Fibreglass
by CANARYwolf
Summary: Youko didn't quite mean to cause the amount of trouble she does. Gaara didn't quite mean to fall in love with her. Funny how these things happen. Obvious ending, but let's have fun along the way GaaraXOC
1. Chapter 1

**Alrighty here's another fic for you all ^.^ Yes, the ending is very predictable, but I'm hoping to entertain along the way. From the next chapter on, it's from my OC's view… but for now, heeere's Gaara…**

**Disclaimer: Nope, I own nothing, I'm skint :D**

**And I am still working on my other fanfic, it's just I HAD to write this one too… anyway, enjoy!**

**CANARYwolf Xx**

Prologue

_**---UENA- **__Outskirts of Maki- one-man unit- spy?- Team Hiroki will detain- Enemy uses glass-type jutsus- backup needed urgently---_

Gaara scowled down at the piece of paper Kankuro had given him,

"UENA?" He murmured, and Kankuro scratched his head,

"Unidentified Enemy Ninja Alert,"

"This message was sent by Hiroki's falcon?" The young Kazekage asked, and his brother nodded, "So it's one day old…" Gaara regarded it again, "Kankuro, what do you think?"

Kankuro's eyes widened slightly at his little brother's request for his opinion, but otherwise ignored the novelty,

"I think… Hiroki would put more details in, unless the situation was kinda difficult; it must be a pretty dangerous ninja,"

Gaara nodded once, and stood up,

"I'm going."

Kankuro frowned,

"Hey, hey, hey, wait! You can't go rushing into things like this!"

Gaara fixed him with a look,

"I can easily capture an enemy ninja in a sand prison, and keep my shinobi safe from harm."

His brother rolled his eyes,

"Since when did you get so cocky?" He muttered, and dodged the punch that the Kazekage threw at him, "Right, Kazekage-sama, whatever you say, Kazekage-sama!" He grinned slyly, "And this would have nothing to do with avoiding your paperwork?"

"Nothing." Gaara replied tonelessly. Kankuro snorted, but stepped sideways to allow his brother to pass,

"It'll still be here when you get back, y'know?" He sighed theatrically, then coughed hurriedly as Gaara glared at him again,

"I will be back in three days." He stated, and then with a swish of his robes he was gone.

"Hey! What am I supposed to tell the council?" Kankuro shouted into the emptiness.


	2. Chapter 2

**Here we are again, and now let's meet our heroine :D She's a bit too relaxed, and that's how she ends up watching the sky and pretty things when she's supposed to be escaping. The way to beat her in a fight? Yell 'Hey, something shiny!' and point. No kidding.**

**Anyway,**

**Disclaimer: I guess I own my OCs, but that's about it, okies?**

**Enjoy…**

The sky was a kind of pink, swimming effortlessly into a deep blue as it rose away from the horizon. The rooftops were alight with a fiery glow and the fountains on the streets below sparkled in the setting sun. In short, I had the best view of the sunset ever. I was leaning against a vent on a flat rooftop, around four storeys up, breathing in the warm liquid evening air. Behind the vent, I knew a Sand ninja was doing something sneaky with a jutsu and some paper. I guessed it wouldn't be a good idea to stick around and find out what.

These three ninja had been tracking me for over two days, trying to capture me, and I was weakening. Shame. I breathed deeply and tried to stop my eyes from closing with fatigue. I heard the guy muttering to himself, some sort of incantation, and decided that I was going to have to get a move on. But my view of the sunset was perfect! Couldn't be helped.

I rose silently to my feet, ignoring my screaming muscles, and risked a glance at my pursuer; he had his back turned. Good. I sucked in a breath and slid to the edge of the roof, grimacing. I've never liked heights. As quietly as possible, I rolled my body over the edge and swung my legs down to find a foot hold: a window ledge. Now came the tricky part. I lowered myself down quickly, into a crouch, still hanging onto the roof with my fingertips. Then I braced myself, and let go. Flying for a second, my hands scraped the side of the building and caught the ledge as my body attempted to hurtle downwards. I breathed again and sighed in frustration. Why was I doing it this way? Because the other guy in the ninja team could sense chakra being used. No special jutsus for me. Thanks a lot, Mr Jutsu-sensing Man.

Now I was stuck, hanging from the side of a building. I opened my eyes (They had been squeezed tightly shut) and swore. Searching the room whose window I was standing in front of was none other than the kunoichi of the Sand team. Her eyes widened as they met mine and I flew backwards. No time for sneaking around any more.

"Wings of Glass!" I barked and used the jutsu to swoop to the ground. I took a look behind me; two of the three ninja were sprinting for me. I spun around and shot off, dodging market stalls and people as I entered the town's busiest street. I was making a scene and part of me loved it. That part of me was ignoring the danger of being chased by three Sand jounin.

I saw a derelict building and dived into it, slamming doors and thudding up the stairs. Then I froze, halfway to the second storey. The shinobi weren't following. Why? I caught my breath and tuned my ears in. A creak. The murmur of the outside crowd. Another creak. The cry of a passing street vendor. A groan. The scream of chil- wait! A groan? Not a human one. Another groan. And another. And slowly, majestically, I felt the house begin to lean. More, more. I guessed the house wasn't up to someone thudding through such an old place. I slid as the walls began to crack and fall, slipping as I ran for a window, anything.

The floor beneath me opened up and I shot through before I could think. At the final moment I somersaulted and landed on the rubble, now on the ground floor, glancing up in horror at the huge structure preparing to collapse in on itself. With me inside. As the roof beams began to fall I threw up glass barriers, but my chakra supplies were exhausted and the rubble fell straight through them. I pirouetted away until I was so dizzy I couldn't think.

An almighty moan rumbled though the foundations and I screamed as it finally collapsed on my head.

There was silence. I looked up. A sand barrier had materialised above my head, and someone- someone had pulled me under it with a strong arm and a warm chest. I twisted a little and now I could see my rescuer; tall, with red, messy hair and dark-ringed eyed, those blue, almost glowing eyes, and a tattoo, Ai, love, on his forehead. In other words, the Godaime Kazekage. Sabaku no Gaara. Oh dear…

I pitched out of his grasp, attempting to escape, but instead a fit of coughs took over and I collapsed to the ground as I tried to dislodge the brick dust caking mjy throat. A cool hand slid around my hot forehead as another brought lukewarm water to my lips. It tasted like heaven.

As the dust around us settled, I realised that the sun was still setting and I rolled myself over to look at the sky. I felt a shadow over me and sighed.

"Is this the UEN?" I heard the Kazekage ask,

"Yes, my lord," The leader of that Sand team replied, and I rolled my eyes,

"What's a you-ee-en?" I asked, and the Kazekage;s head came into my vision,

"Unidentified Enemy Ninja," He said shortly, and I felt the sand from the floor around me begin to move to hold my arms and legs,

"Your sand is useless, you know?" I murmured, and he scowled, raising an eyebrow. I shut my eyes quickly, because the face he had pulled suddenly seemed so… sexy, "I can't move anyway," I clarified, but his sand didn't disappear,

"Why?" He asked suspiciously, and I groaned,

"Jeez! Would you be able to? I just trekked for ten days through the most inhospitable desert on the planet, without food or water," I coughed, "Then I had to fight a team of Sand jounin for almost three days, before having a building collapse on top of me!" I coughed again, and he gave me another sip of water, "I surrender, 'kay? I surrender."

I felt myself relax, and then swore as I felt myself go numb. The last sensation I had before I blacked out completely was that someone had gently picked me up and was carrying me.

**In case you hadn't realised, she fainted 'cause they drugged the water. Naughty Gaara! Anyhoo, we all know what to do! Review, my dear people, review! CANARYwolf Xx**


	3. Chapter 3

I blinked awake. Then I hastily shut my eyes again in a futile attempt to go back to a blissfully unaware sleep. There's always something a bit weird about waking up in a strange place, a place you don't remember falling asleep in. More than that, you know that something must be fundamentally wrong when you wake up tied upright to a chair. That's when you're really in trouble.

I groaned as it all came rushing back; the fight, the collapsing building, the sexy but sneaky Kazekage... First they had drugged me and now it looked like I was going to be interrogated. I opened my eyes to study the man sitting opposite me, smoking.

"That's bad for you." I nodded to his cigarette, and he answered by coolly blowing a stream of smoke into my face.

"What business do you have in the Wind country?" He demanded, and I didn't like the look in his eyes. That's the thing about me, I don't mind being honest and all, as long as the question is put right. I doubted that this man was going to ask in the right way at all. His loss.

"A sand castle competition," I replies sarcastically, and a flash of searing pain ripped across my head, sending flashes in front of my eyes,

"Hey! That's not nice!" I protested, and he considered me,

"I _said, _why are you here?"

"For fun." Again, a shot of pain coursed through my head. I clenched my jaw, "Seriously man, what _is_ that? It's ruining my good mood."

"_I _was sleeping when they ordered me to babysit you," He shot back, and took another drag of his cigarette, "Don't talk to me about good moods."

We sat in silence for a few minutes as I looked around the room; bare, dirty grey and dimly lit by a single low-energy bulb. From the taste of the air I guessed we were somewhere underground. It's always more stale, more recycled. The only thing separating my interrogator and I was a simple wooden table. All in all, the most cliched room I had ever had the privilege of being in.

"I like what you've done with the place." I said, and felt the now expected searing pain, "Oh come _on!_"

"You've got a smart mouth." He muttered in his gruff voice,

"I'll choose to take that as a compliment." I grinned overly widely.

"Are you going to tell me what your name and mission are?"

"I wasn't planning on it."

"I can keep this jutsu up all day," He narrowed his eyes at me.

"I can keep not caring all day too. What a coincidence!"

"If you comply it will be easier for the both of us."

"Actually, it would be easier for the both of us if you just let me go right now." I returned, and he eyed me incredulously, "Please?"

He sighed,

"Who are you, kid?"

"I'm not a kid!" I retorted.

"You sure look like it."

"_Thanks._ I'm still not telling you anything. Don't bother trying." Pain wrapped itself between my ears and I shuddered lightly, then scowled, "That just makes me less likely to talk."

"What, if I asked nicely would you tell me everything?"

"No!" I sniggered, "_No_body knows everything!"

He slammed his hands to the table, leaning menacingly closer,

"Stop being cocky before I slam your face in, _kid._"

"Well, here's a question for you: why does everyone assume I'm an enemy straight away?"

"Are you saying that you're not?"

"I'm not saying anything."

"Here's the thing; you appear out of nowhere, attack our nearest cell with enough chakra to hold them off for three days, and you expect us not to capture you as an enemy? Or is that how you treat your allies?"

"Hey, none of that was even my fault! I was totally just minding my own business when I accidentally stumbled into their little camp. They attacked me first! Then it was all just self-defence!"

"Oh yeah?" He lent back in his chair, considering me, "Do you expect me to believe that?"

"It's the truth. Duh!"

"I'm going to give you a straight choice, seeing as you're so smart. Either you tell me the truth,or I torture you until you do. I might torture you for a bit anyway, 'for fun'" He put his cigarette in his mouth again and I sighed. This wasn't so fun.

That is one of my philosophies, you see; always do things you enjoy. However, while this didn't look like it was going to turn enjoyable any time soon, I was in Suna, as far as I could gather. Therefore, I had cut out a good part of my journey by being captured. I hadn't quite planned this, though. I couldn't see any way of talking this guy round either. My thoughts returned that knight-in-shining-armour-that-drugs-you (the lesser-known aspect of fairy tales) Kazekage,

"Um, Mr... Interrogator Man...?"I began, "Can I see the Kazekage?"

"No."

Ah.

"Please?"

"Of course not!"

"Well, why not?"

"You're a possible danger. We cannot put our leader's life at risk."

"Oh come on! Do you think I can use chakra in this state? I won't tell anything to anyone else."

I didn't expect such a childish bargaining point to work, but the man left the room with a laboured sigh. I flexed my shoulders and winced. Buildings falling down aren't very good for body-happiness, let me tell you now. I missed daylight too, I never like spending too long away from open air. I twisted my neck to try to bring some life back into my body and hoped that the man would come back soon. At least he was company, albeit not as interesting as I would prefer, but he had potential. Had it really been three days of fighting? Now it felt like forever. Next time I try to fight for that long, someone stop me. I mean, it wasn't intense or anything, I made sure that I held off for meals and stuff; I never fight starved people, it's just not nice. On that train of though, were they ever going to offer me some soup or something?

I heard the heavy thud of footsteps outside of the room, keeping an anxious pace with lighter, more assertive footfalls. These two seemed to be being followed by another few silent attendants. I also began to make out raised voices. Well, one raised voice;

"Gaara, stop!" A man cried, and the door flew open. The red-headed Kazekage strode in, flanked by a man wearing a black outfit with some kind of ears, and war paint; the one who was shouting, "She could be dangerous!"

The Kazekage held up his hand and the man next to him fell quiet. I felt many sets of eyes scrutinise my face as I waited patiently for something else to happen. Silence. I felt the clear blue eyes of the Kazekage look me up and down.

"What are you hiding?" He asked, quietly and with minimal movement. I raised an eyebrow,

"What makes you assume I'm hiding something?"

"How about, you're not telling anything to our interrogator?" The painted man butted in. I frowned at him,

"Who asked you?" I replied, then turned my attention back to the red-head, ignoring the anger emanating from that man now, "He wasn't asking the right questions." I stated.

The Kazekage tilted his head slightly,

"And what are the 'right questions'?"

"Honestly, Gaara, she's trying to trap you with some kind of intrigue jutsu, I don't know. Please, let's go." The man in black indicated the door and made to leave, but the Kazekage was immoveable.

"She does intrigue me. I do not think it is a jutsu." He narrowed his eyes as he studied me. His advisor, if that was who it was, sighed exasperatedly,

"Sheesh, she must be strong if she's got you. Let's go _now._"

The Kazekage made a warning noise in the back of his throat and the other man stepped back, with gritted teeth.

The Kazekage took another step towards me, and I smiled brightly,

"So I 'intrigue' you? Why would that be?"

"You tell me." He tensed his jaw and I saw that he was actually pretty angry. Good self-control, that was for sure. I guessed I shouldn't lead him in circles,

"Maybe I have information that you would want." I said slowly, and I saw a glimmer of interest enter his otherwise blank eyes, "Maybe I know about a very strong guy. I mean _strong, _by the way. Maybe I know about a facility he has in the mountains to the north. Perhaps I could even tell you about what he plans to do, with the research he has made there... Maybe I could be a key part of that." I sighed; no one was going to guess anything here, and I didn't like spelling out information. Didn't like telling it at all. But when I actually looked at my options, I reasoned that... well,I had none. Because all of those silent attendants, fairly muscled-looking body-building types, and indeed my brain-hurty interrogator and Mr. Anxiety in the black, not to mention the sand-wielding Kazekage, they were all kind of key to my plan. Well, if they all represented Suna anyway. I needed shelter in Suna. Because this guy, the strong one, he was totally out to get me now, I would think. He was probably hot on my trail. And I had brought a war here earlier than it would have come. Oh, it would have come, though, I'm sure. But the least I could do was warn them a little, I guessed.

"Jeez, can't you at least try to guess?! I've given you more than enough!"

"This isn't a game." The interrogator growled, "Spill."

The Kazekage's eyes met mine, and I felt myself sink into their bottomless colour. Stupid, stupid, good-looking idiot.

"Aw _man!_ But you have to believe me. Well, you absolutely have to, actually, 'cause I'm not gonna stick around and help when he comes along destroying things if you don't. So. This guy, his name's Kazuhiko." I heard a few suppressed gasps, and the Kazekage spun around to stare at the attendants who had reacted, "Yeah, you should know him. He's a missing-nin from this village after all-"

"Gaara! This is bad!" The man with the ears interrupted me and I scowled, "Kazuhiko... the jutsu he was trying to formulate, the one that got him thrown out...-"

"-Hey, don't give away my punchline!" I sighed, "Yes, he's perfected _that _jutsu."

"_What _jutsu?" The Kazekage suspiciously demanded.

"You're not going to like it." The other guy said, "Not one bit."

The Kazekage looked at me with a hard stare,

"What is it?"

"We-ell... he found a method for combining humans and demons." I answered, then watched interestedly as the Kazekage's face froze properly.

"No..." He murmured, and the other guy stepped closer to him,

"Gaara, he was thrown out because of what happened to you."

Suddenly the Kazekage was just in front of me, leaning down threateningly, eyes flashing,

"Why are you a key part of the research? Why did I feel something in you that is familiar?"

I bit my lip, then grinned nervously.

"Um... don't get all angry now? So... well, I don't need to spell it out for you, do I, really? Kazuhiko has been researching how to combine a human child with a juvenile demon. I have come from his testing facility. Do the maths yourself."

I wasn't prepared for the sheer amount of fear that shook the Kazekage's gaze for all of a second, and then the anger was back. He strode away, then appeared before me again,

"You're half-human, half-demon." It wasn't a question.

"At your service. Ooh yeah, I came to Suna 'cause I kind of want your protection. You know, Kazuhiko's probably going all out to find me. Something like that, anyway. Feel like helping me?"

"We have no choice." The Kazekage suddenly sounded very tired, "He is our problem. Release her."

I felt the ropes around my wrists loosen and smiled thankfully, heaving myself to my feet. And promptly fell over again. Strong arms reached around my waist and caught me before I hit the uninviting ground, pulling the chair closer for me to steady myself on. I met the eyes of the Kazekage, who held my gaze for an unexplainable few seconds, before spinning round to bark orders to the attendants. Food, rest, all for me? Sounded wonderful. The he turned back towards me,

"We aren't finished. Once you have rested, I expect you in my office. We need what information you have." With that, he strode out, followed closely by the guy in black. Some men held out their arms for me to hold as we walked but I stuck my tongue out, walking, if a little slowly, out of the cell on my own two feet.

**Yes, sorry about not updating etc etc, but this IS a monster of a chapter, you have to admit! Suggestions, criticisms (not too mean, I have feelings) and hopefully little happy reviewer people all welcome! Hint. Hint. Xx**


	4. Chapter 4

Food! Oh, food, I missed you so much. I wolfed down the soup and bread placed in front of me, barely registering my guards' warnings to eat slowly and go easy on my stomach. Too bad, I thought, as I vomited onto the floor. At least it tasted good going in.

Now that I wasn't in any immediate danger of being mind-squeezed by the interrogator man, or of getting lost in the time-space ignoring vacuum of the Kazekage's eyes, thinking felt good. Thinking along the lines of 'What the [insert appropriate exclamation here] am I going to do now?!'

I was going to have a little fun with the Kazekage, lead him in a couple of circles, until I actually met him. There was something strangely hypnotic about his voice which forced me to spew out the truth before my brain had even registered the question. I was in a little bit of a rush, but that had never stopped me before. I guessed that I should probably tell the Sand everything before things started... well, before it all _started_. I guessed there were lives at stake and all. Man, it's hard for a seasoned liar to turn all heroic and give out the information that could save a whole village. There was also the problem of how to phrase it; it seemed the Kazekage had a slight issue with the entire concept of humans and demons merging into one. It's just kind of my entire life, so I never realised that there could be people who would get all angry about it.

Before I could debate further with myself, the guards motioned for me to follow them out of the room. We walked slowly (I could hardly walk any faster) along sandy corridors. Must be a pain for the cleaners, I thought off-handly as I was escorted towards a large-looking set of wooden doors.

I was led into the grand council chamber, to a table with a dozen old shinobi, and of course, the pale-skinned - almost porcelain compared to the older men - Kazekage, arranged around it solemnly. I silently hissed angrily, having not expected to have to deal with a bunch of old guys at the same time.

"Is this the... half-breed?" An old man asked distastefully and I gritted my teeth. If they were going to be like that, I'd take it silently and then _punch their faces in._ The guards eyed me worriedly and then nodded.

"Looks like a human to me." the oldest one murmured,his voice scratching painfully.

"Yes, but you can never tell."A suspicious one, his face full of scars, countered.

"What do you think it can do?"

"How powerful do you think it is?"

"Surely it couldn't be a match for our jounin. It's so small."

"It did manage to hold off a whole team for three days."

"Maybe we should consider restraints."

"Well, hold on, the Kazekage did say that it came for help. Maybe it means no harm."

"Animals can lie."

I felt my blood boil, and tensed my muscles, as the old men continued to spew their bile. Just as I was about to lose my calm completely, a quiet voice cut through their conversation like a knife,

"Hold your tongues. Show our guest _some _respect." Everyone turned to face the Kazekage, surprised, and gulped as they saw the murderous glint enter his eyes. Sand was writhing dangerously along his forearms – his deliciously toned forearms, I noticed despite the atmosphere – and I took this as my cue to speak. I stepped forward, into the center of the room.

"Gentlemen, as you can _clearly_ see, I am of the female persuasion. Please address me thus. I am not an 'it'. Neither am I an animal, must I remind you. I have known full humans with less humanity than myself." I glanced around the room, making sure that I held their attention, "As one of you kind gentlemen mentioned, I did indeed come seeking help. I also come offering it. Although," Here I sighed theatrically, "I guess that if you don't think that your village is strong enough, I'll just have to leave you to be destroyed and turn to the Village Hidden in the Leaves. I did hear that they are much stronger." One of the Council members stood up with an angry gasp, but the glare he received from the Kazekage forced him into his seat again, "I come from Kazuhiko's test facility in the mountains, where they have succeeded in creating mixtures between humans and lesser demons. I, as I'm sure you are aware, am one of these 'Mergers' as we call them. Now, I escaped, with rather vital information to you. I have a feeling that Kazuhiko will not want you to know said information."

"Spit it out, child!" One of the old men cried, and I scowled,

"I was getting there! You people are so impatient! So, Kazuhiko's planning the usual, you know, world domination and that, starting with this lovely village right here." I gave them a brilliant smile, "I was merely offering some help."

"What's in it for you?" The Kazekage asked sharply, and I grinned,

"I don't like Kazuhiko at all. I want shelter. I want something like fun. Is that too much to ask?"

"Can we trust it?" A council member asked loudly, and before he or my guards knew it, I was in front of him, my hand at his throat,

"You can if you're nice to me." I whispered, and returned to my place in the middle, "What do you say, Sand Village?"

All eyes turned to the Kazekage, who considered me for more time than felt comfortable, then nodded with the tiniest movement,

"We offer you shelter, human-demon from the mountains. But be warned, you _will_ be watched."

I nodded,

"I expected it."

He turned to the chamber as a whole,

"Council is dismissed." The men began to move, and I saw how much danger the Sand was really in. These men, supposedly the strongest, wisest shinobi in the village, could hardly move. From the look of it, they had been complacent. Only the Kazekage, and the man with the ears, who had stayed silently behind him for the entire conversation, looked in a proper fighting form. The village was dated. I watched the Kazekage watch the council leave and wondered if he hadn't already worked that out, if he hadn't already catered for them.

Then he turned his luminous gaze on me,

"Follow me. We can talk in my office."

"I thought we were going to talk there first anyway." I grumbled, limping behind the Kazekage and the man in black as my guards flanked me out of the room. The red-head didn't answer for a second, then I heard him mutter,

"The council insisted."

"They're certainly a charming bunch." I replied cheerfully.

"I apologise for their behaviour."

"No, no,don't be sorry, I almost expected it."

"_They _should know better." He said through gritted teeth, and I left it there.

We turned into a small corridor, and approached a door with two young male ninja stood to attention guarding it. I smiled flirtatiously to them as I followed the Kazekage into the room, but they ignored me. I mentally stuck my tongue out at them.

Once inside, the Kazekage turned to face me,

"Talk." He commanded, and I sat without being asked in the chair by his desk.

"I doubt you'll like it. Any of it."

"Even so. Talk."

I drew in a breath and began.

**Oh, I wonder what they'll talk about. All shall be revealed in the next chapter ^.^ Especially if reviews have happened... Xx**


	5. Chapter 5

"_Talk." He commanded, and I sat without being asked in the chair by his desk._

"_I doubt you'll like it. Any of it."_

"_Even so. Talk."_

_I drew in a breath and began._

"My name's Youko. I didn't tell you that yet, did I?" I grinned to myself, as the Kazekage inclined his head in answer. "I... don't really remember... who I was before... well, you know, before I turned into this. Either as a demon or a human," I shrugged, "But I can guess at things. I must have come from somewhere in the Wind country because my chakra is glass-type."

The Kazekage raised a perfectly sculpted eyebrow questioningly.

"Glass-type. Sand... and fire, yes?" I nodded happily,

"Exactly! But I was Merged – that's our name for it – about three years ago, and I've lived in the Centre ever since."

The guy in black, who had been silent for the beginning of our conversation, rested his chin on his hand,

"What is this Centre? What happens there?"

"Well, people get Merged. Obviously. Anyway, what's your name?" He looked taken aback for a second, then with a nod from the Kazekage told me,

"Sabaku no Kankuro. I'm the Kazekage's brother."

"Oh! It makes sense now!" I gave him a smile, which he answered with a puzzled glance, and turned back to his red-haired brother, who was beginning to appear a little impatient. "The Centre is just your run-of-the-mill science lab, on a bit of a larger scale. Kind of like an evil genius' lair, if you want to think in those terms," The shinobi's silence urged me on, "There are twelve of us, totally successful kids. Oh yeah, the procedure, the Merging one, has to be done on a kid. Otherwise you're a little too comfortable in your own skin already, or something. What they do is, they take a lesser demon, though don't ask me how they catch them... and they take a human child, sort of around eleven or twelve, and then Kazuhiko-sensei does his thing with his special jutsu and bam! There's your Merger. Mmm, yeah, we prefer the term 'Merger' to 'human-demon'."

"Why?" A hint of interest in his voice betrayed the Kazekage's impassive face.

"Makes us sound like 'half-breeds'. Which we're not. Definitely." The Kazekage motioned for me to continue, as I noticed a guard scribbling away behind me, "What's he up to?"

"Writing down our conversation for records."

"Right. Fine. So do I get to say 'Strike that from the records' at all?"

"No."

"Worth a try. Anyway... Mergers. Right. Once we've been Merged, we do lots of fun training. If you're really lucky, when you get born as a Merger, you still remember some of your jutsus, so you don't have to start from scratch. But some kids weren't ninja before they got captured, so they have to work a little harder when they wake up."

"Wait! They capture children?"

"Well, yeah. How'd you think Kazuhiko'd get people in for his experiments? It's not like any parents would just push their kids into it saying 'Yes, mix my child up with a demon so that they become a war machine and have no memories of me.'"

"Some parents would."

"I guess...and there are a few kids who volunteer themselves too. But they're a bit mixed up. I don't think I did. But anyway," I felt a hard taste in my mouth, "You had no objections to the demons being captured. What's the difference?"

"..." He just stared at me with his icy eyes and I gulped mentally. If I were better with descriptions and all that jazz, you'd be gulping too. My reaction to this amazingly good looking boy might seem a little... _extreme, _but please remember that for my whole conscious life (that's three years, you might recall) I've had these teenage hormones kicking around and only eight guys, who were more like rivals, even close to my age to consider. Or Kazuhiko. Just no.

"I understand. It's hard to feel empathy for another species." I honestly did, despite my loaded question and my angry eyes, "But I would expect someone like _you_ to be a little more liberal in your thinking."

He stood up. Maybe I pressed the wrong button. Oops.

"Someone like _me? _Please explain." I heard the fury dripping from his tongue and winced. Then I met his eyes again,

"Oh, don't try all that with me. Sit down."

"Don't order the Kazekage around like th-" Kankuro started, but the Kazekage held out his hand,

"What?" He murmured.

"Cool it. Seriously! I'm not trying to insult you here. Wrong choice of words." He held my gaze until just as I was worried I was going to faint or something, he lowered himself back into his chair. It's incredibly hard to stay that angry at someone who you fancy that much. "You... listen,you may deny it, but I just _know_ that you, who ha_s _experienced what it's like to live with a demon- let me finish," I silenced Kankuro, with his mouth already halfway open, " If you've known a demon, you can't victimise them as much as other people in the human race. Tell me I'm wrong."

"..."

I nodded to him as he narrowed his eyes in defeat,

"_Anyway, _we were talking about the Centre, right?" The change of topic came as a relief to everyone, "Kazuhiko wants us to mobilise as quickly as possible now, because some terrorist group has caught our scent and apparently are after us. Basically, Kazuhiko's all worried that not all of us are quite loyal enough to him, so he wants us to get control of the ninja world quickly before this other group becomes a threat."

"If he's worried about you joining these terrorists, why did he tell you that that's why you're all beginning to make a move?" Kankuro asked suspicously.

I laughed,

"Of _course_ he didn't tell us! He doesn't trust us at all, I'll be completely honest. He's freakin' paranoid"

"So how do you know?"

"I don't trust him either, so I sneaked into his office and listened to the conversation he had with one of his advisers."

"How do we know you're not here as a decoy?" The Kazekage asked levelly, his elbows resting on his desk, regarding me over the top of his hands.

I scratched my head.

"I guess you can't know. Well, _I _know I'm not. Is that good enough?" He shook his head, with a trace of something like humour playing through his otherwise motionless features, "Right. So what happens now?"

"In your opinion," He started, ignoring my question, "Could the remaining... Mergers... pose a threat to the shinobi nations?"

"Oh, for sure! We _are _pretty strong. Naturally, I'm the best." They didn't respond to my grin, "I think... no, I'm _sure_ that with my defection, there are at least a few who'll guess that something's really wrong."

"No, there's something I don't get." The Kazekage and I both looked, slightly surprised, at Kankuro, whose eyes had suddenly turned incredibly sharp, "You've been brought up to fight. Surely you must have guessed that you would be doing something like this. Why did you never defect before?"

"It was just the way I was raised. It's my life. That's the way it has always been."

"So why do you care?" The Kazekage asked a little roughly, "Why do you care that you would be destroying us? Why?"

I wondered why he was suddenly so emotional about it (in that, he was showing a little bit of emotion) until it suddenly struck me; he wanted to believe me, he wanted to believe that I was here to help so much. I reckon that as a kage, there are so few times when you are allowed to trust someone. And when you're a kage such as this one... you may never have trusted someone in your life. I closed my eyes,

"I don't know." Silence, "But. As soon as I heard him, I felt something for this village. I care about this village. We heard about it in whispered stories of the outside world. We heard about _you._ I didn't want this paradise, this so carefully constructed paradise, to be destroyed. Can you understand?"

There was a pause.

"No. Sorry." Kankuro grinned, "But you seem kind of genuine."

Slowly the Kazekage nodded,

"My sister would have to keep you under twenty-four hour surveillance, and she would have the back-up of my entire village if you even dared to try something. Even a 'Merger' wouldn't be able to take them on, not alone, am I right?"

"Yes. I'd be totally screwed." I smiled, "Can I stay, then? Can I?"

Kankuro looked at the Kazekage, who stared directly into my eyes again. That was a deadly habit of his. I guess he needed a new one after he gave up all that killing malarkey.

"Yes. You can stay."

I felt an overwhelming urge to hug him right there and then, but had the nagging feeling that if I tried, my invitation to stay would be hastily retracted. I stood and bowed deeply, then straightened, a new serious look on my face,

"I'll help with the preparations. I'll give you all of the information you need to defend yourselves."

"Well, we know Kazuhiko already, at least, we knew him before."

"That's good, 'cause to be honest he wasn't out with us a lot. You'd think he was scared of what we could do or something."

Kankuro walked around to my side of the desk, and bowed to his brother,

"Gaara, I'll take her to Temari. She won't be happy, you know."

"Un." His red-haired sibling replied and I knew the conversation was over. I followed Kankuro out of the room, taking care to smile extra widely at the guards. No reaction. I'd work them down.

What I didn't know was that back in his office, the Kazekage was sitting with his head in his hands, eyes squeezed tightly shut, breathing deeply. It seemed I'd had an Effect on him. If I had any say in it, I'd probably continue to, too.

**Alright, I know I took absolutely years to update, but here it is, anyway. And now Youko's practically won everyone's trust (well, almost anyway) and explained herself and all that, I promise we'll have some actual story and none of this scene-setting stuff. But anyhoo, what do you think? Reviews please ^_^ I'll do some virtual baking and there'll be theoretical cookies all round. Xx**


	6. Chapter 6

"Hello."

"Hello."

I stared evenly at the tall girl with a massive fan who was considering me seriously.

"Is this her?" She asked Kankuro, not taking her eyes off my face.

"Who else would it be? Idiot." I didn't see her move, but suddenly she was right beside me, her fan slightly open and at Kankuro's throat.

"Who's an idiot?!" She asked quietly but pointedly, then grinned at me, "I'm Temari. Nice to meet you!" With her free hand, she shook my bemused hand. I recovered quickly,

"I'm...Youko... Is he ok?" Kankuro had his eyes closed in some kind of prayer as the razor-sharp edge of the fan hovered around his neck.

"Oh, him? He's fine. Who would think that their own sister would hurt them like that?" She smiled sweetly at Kankuro, before snapping her fan shut. Her brother breathed a sigh of relief, and looked at me pityingly,

"She's all yours." Before she could retaliate, he had disappeared from the room. I scratched my head,

"So... what do we do?"

"The usual." She sat on a wooden chair, and without any further explanation from her, I looked around the room; fairly spartan, with a desk, chair (currently occupied with the slightly unpredictable ninja), bed and a chest of drawers.

"Whose room is this?"

"Yours."

"Huh."

We stayed in silence for a few minutes, and I finally threw myself down on the bed,

"Thank Kami! I haven't had a bed in about a fortnight! Man, it's so soft!" She raised an eyebrow at me, "What? I like beds!" I answered and sat up to look at her properly, "Could you elaborate a bit more, please. What are we supposed to do?"

"Well, generally, I look after the person I'm guarding until they get on my nerves so much that I get the urge to seriously hurt them, then my brother takes them away from me." She said, her voice honey-sweet. I nodded slowly,

"So you're speaking as little as possible hoping I will too, so that we don't get on each others' nerves as quickly!" She nodded, "Right. Well... Nope, sorry, that doesn't cut it with me."

"What?!"

"I'm not spending all of my time with a person who barely speaks. Anyway, you're interesting. I don't think you'll get on my nerves."

"It's not you I'm worried about."

"Oh, don't say that. Everyone loves me!"

"Really." She said unenthusiastically.

"Hey! I don't like the way you said that! Let me guess."

She looked at me out of the corner of her eyes,

"What?"

"Ah, so you're interested now?"

"..."

"Is that not answering questions a family thing?" She gave me a confused look, "So, I'm guessing. You're being all big and mean and uncaring... you're waiting for something... no, some_one_ in particular, and you don't want to be stuck with a 24/7 person right now 'cause you might miss him."

The edge of the fan was beside my cheek before I knew what was happening, "Hey, you _are_ good with that thing! Just don't wave it around needlessly, please." It didn't move, "You could have just asked! I won't stop you seeing anyone you want to see. I might even _watch-_"

She hit me round the head with the blunt end of her weapon and I hissed as she withdrew it,

"Don't be so smart."

I forgot the pain,

"I'm right, aren't I? I am!" She blushed and I suddenly didn't think that this whole thing was going to be all that bad at all. "So, tell me, who is he?"

She sat back down in her chair,

"No-one."

"Ah. They always are. _No-one_ gets around a lot." She threw me a look, and I could see she was trying not to smile. "It doesn't matter. You don't have to tell me."

"Ah-... um... thank you?"

"It's nothing. I get to meet him though, right? You'll tell me who he is when we see him."

"Wait! Why are you being so friendly?" She was suddenly so suspicious. I sighed over-theatrically.

"Why are you being so unfriendly? I only need surveillance because of your stupid council and because I have absolutely no evidence that I'm not going to kill you all. Obviously. Other than that, I'm just a normal girl."

"Really. So I guess the council didn't make a good first impression on you."

"Hah. Bunch of species-ist old men."

"Species-ist? Oh, right. Can I say something?"

"Duh."

"It might be kind of rude but... you don't look like you're half a demon."

I raised my eyes,

"That's because you haven't seen me... _at night!" _I hissed for effect, and she gaped,

"Do you... really-"

"-No! Don't be a fool. This is just my natural form. It's just maybe a bit more... fluid than yours."

"What?!"

"I _mean, _I can maybe change my form a little bit, just a little, sometimes. Takes loads of chakra though, dries me right up. In case you hadn't noticed, it's also slightly easier to move around in the human world looking, you know, _human_."

She nodded and we went back to silence. Then she looked back at me, her eyes softer and suddenly she seemed just that little bit nicer.

"Sorry. Sorry, can we just start again?"

"Uh-huh. I'm Youko."

"I'm Temari"

"Right. Can I have food now please?"

"Huh?"

"The only food you people gave me was very quickly thrown up again by yours truly, and I'd actually quite like not to die of starvation."

"Oh, right. Well, I was about to eat something anyway, come with me."

As I followed her out of the room I smiled to myself. Looked like this would be kind of fun, after all. Seemed the ninja of the Sand had some serious personality quirks, and that just made it all incredibly exciting. Not that I'm thinking of the Kazekage when I say that. No, why would that guy float into my mind when I think of the word 'exciting'? Of course not.

Five bowls of ramen later, and I was sprawled into my chair, feeling like I was going to explode at any minute. Temari watched me in awe,

"I've never seen anyone eat that much- actually, I have, but he's different... How?"

"Go without food for half a month. Suddenly it's surprisingly easy."

I looked out of the window and into the busy market street. Temari had seen my wistful expression as I peeked out of the main building and decided that I might as well have a little tour round the village.

"So what do you think?" She asked with pride, "What do you think of the village?"

"Sandy." I replied, worrying that if I spoke too much the food might take that as an opportunity to come back out again.

"Hey!"

"What?! It is!"

She looked like she was about to argue, but my logic was flawless, and she snorted,

"But that's like saying that where you grew up is 'mountainy'."

"Well, it is."

"I can see _you're_ a literary genius."

I raised my eyebrow at her just as a jounin appeared next to our table. He bowed hastily to Temari, fixed me with a worried look before doing the same to me, and turned back to my new friend,

"The Kazekage requests the presence of the.. um...-"

"-Merger." I helpfully butted in, and he nodded in a panicked way,

"Right, the Merger... in his office, now."

Temari nodded curtly and he vanished again.

"Aw man, I was only just there!"

"Oh, it's not like you're an important source of information about a serious threat to the village or anything."

"You know, you're unexpectedly sarcastic." I commented as we got up from our table.

"Why's it unexpected?" She asked, a smile playing round her lips, and I shook my head, smiling,

"I guess I always thought ninja would be more serious, is all."

"Oh, you need to meet this guy from the Leaf, wears a mask all the time, reads _naughty_ books..." I laughed delightedly as we began the climb up the steep roads to the main offices, my mood lightening almost imperceptibly as I contemplated the thought of seeing the Kazekage again so soon.

**And there it is. Happy days. Offering cookies didn't exactly seem to work, so now I'll bake some virtual caramel shortbread. Don't make me eat it all on my own in a reviewless binge. The cyber me will get fat. ^.^**


	7. Chapter 7

**Well look, all of you lovely reviewers made me start writing again the Very Next Day!!! I would write down the names in cyber love, but I have the memory of a very young goldfish, don't take it personally. Although somehow I'm a little depressed I didn't get to finish off all of that shortbread on my own... -sigh-**

For the third time in the space of a day, I was preparing myself to go and see the Kazekage, almost skipping to keep up with the long strides of his tall sister. I was actually quite happy to be summoned, not just because I got to stare into his dark-ringed eyes again -although that was definitely a bonus- but because I could ask him for some real clothes. As it was, I was still wearing the personality-less white outfit they must give to all prisoners. Before you get any ideas into your head of flowing manga-goodness, it _wasn't _very nice. Honestly. It was a smock. And it itched.

Temari suddenly froze, causing me to run straight into her fan, which was strapped to her back. I peeked around her arm to see what the fuss was about, and she spun around, blushing furiously. It took a moment before it dawned on me, and when it did, I dodged around the blonde Temari to come face-to-face with a lazy looking leaf ninja, his brown hair tied back into a high ponytail and a cigarette drooping from his mouth. I grinned, and pulled Temari to face him, my guard now wearing a carefully constructed stone mask on her features.

"Shikamaru." She nodded to him, and he raised an eyebrow lazily.

"Temari. Who's that?"

She looked at me like she'd just remembered I was there, and I almost couldn't hold in my giggles,

"I'm Youko. Nice to meet you!" I smiled and gave Temari a meaningful glance out of the corner of my eye, telling her that I knew _exactly _who this was. He just gave me a slightly confused answering smile and looked at Temari,

"Have you got time this afternoon?" He asked nonchalantly, and I felt Temari go tense,

"Why?" It came out like a challenge, and I sighed over how obvious she was. You'd think a ninja would be better at hiding the important things, like the person you liked. Although, I wondered how good a job _I_ was doing with the Kazekage, really.

"We need to go over the new inter-village regulations."

"Oh..."

"It's such a _drag._ Just come and find me when you're finished," Here he nodded to me, and I scratched the side of my head,

"Well, she's not going to be finished with me for at least a week, so you might as well come with us." He gave me a momentary look of confusion, then obviously just gave it up as too much of a 'drag' to ask, and fell into step alongside us as we began to walk towards the Kazekage's offices again. "Temari, you're being awfully quiet." I commented, and she glared at me, tapping her fan dangerously. I stuck my tongue in my cheek, mission accomplished. Shikamaru was looking in between us slightly suspiciously, and finally was curious enough to ask,

"Just who _are _you? You're not a Sand ninja, right?"

I clapped sarcastically slowly, and he rolled his eyes, as Temari cuffed me around the head.

"What?! I'm a dangerous ninja being kept under twenty-four hour surveillance," I clarified for Shikamaru, who did a double-take and then decided not to reply.

As we entered the sandy office building, I wondered for the first time why the Kazekage _did _want to see me again so quickly. Honestly, it felt like I'd been going back and forth all day, and yet he wanted to speak to me again? We approached the heavy wooden door of his study and one of the guards opened it, ushering me inside. No person in the corner, writing down what we were saying, this time. I bowed quickly,and Temari leaned around the door,

"Gaara, I've got work, is it ok if I leave her here while you talk? It won't take long." Her brother glared at her, then nodded. She rolled her eyes, "He's always like that," She whispered for only me to hear, and disappeared happily round a corner with Shikamaru. I sat in the chair across the desk from the young Kazekage without being asked, and he considered me through unblinking eyes.

"Right, before we being whatever we're beginning, can I make just one request?"

He nodded his confirmation, and I smiled,

"Man, can I get some new clothes please, 'cause these ones are _awful."_ He raised an eyebrow and I almost melted into my chair. Luckily I do seem to be better trained in this kind of thing than Temari.

He watched me silently for a few moments and then nodded again,

"Temari will take you to get clothes when she returns."

"Thank you!" I had the sudden urge to hug him, but it was probably a good thing there was a desk in between us, because I don't think he would have taken too kindly to it, right then. "Oh, by the way," I looked around the empty room, "How come there's no one here? Surely you're all still scared I'm going to assassinate someone?"

"You're right, you haven't gained our trust yet. There are two guards outside, trained to pick up even the slightest noise of trouble from inside this office. Also, there's me."

"So not too self-confident then?" I murmured sarcastically.

"I could subdue you before you even had time to get across this desk."

"Oh yeah? Try me!"

For a second I saw a twitch of something like a smile pass across his features,

"I think that wouldn't be wise."

I grinned, and I could feel a smile beginning to draw out of him too, but he remembered himself quickly. A shame.

"So what's the dealio?" He gave me a confused glance, "I mean, why am I here? What's up?"

He inclined his head to the side with some amusement, and indicated the stack of paperwork to his left with a hand,

"If I'm interviewing you, I don't have to go through this." I laughed outright, and he held my gaze evenly, "Besides, it _is _important." Some sand accumulated around his hands as he shaped it absentmindedly into a globe, then a knife, then a disk. A nervous habit? I mused. "You'll be meeting with my military captains tomorrow morning to begin to work out some kind of defense structure." I nodded my approval, and tried to contain my laughter as he realised that he was unconsciously molding his sand and it disappeared. We sat in silence for a minute or two, and then I stood up, walking over to the bookshelves that lined the walls of the office.

"Your taste in books is exceedingly boring." I noted out loud, not turning around to see his response, because his facial expression would probably turn me to jelly.

"It's not my taste." I waited for him to elaborate, "They're books the Kazekage _should _read."

"Ah. The whole lovely duty thing. Ooh!" I pulled out a heavy grey book and found myself facing the seven books in the series of Harry Potter, "Never pinned you as a Harry guy, Kazekage." He appeared next to me and hurriedly shoved the grey book back into its place, then returned to his seat. I bit my lip to stop the laughter, and continued to walk along the wall. A mirror beaten with sand and time hung in a recess between two shelves and I winced, as I saw myself for the first time in a fortnight. It had _not _been a nice fortnight to me. My blonde hair was on the verge of forming dreadlocks, and my face was an awful sight to see. I jumped, as the Kazekage appeared behind me again,

"Can you stop doing that?" I complained, as he raised an eyebrow again, fast becoming a fatal habit for me. Never mind his flying sand, I know a lot of kunoichi would be defeated by a mere wink from this guy. "You're very tall." I stated, as he watched me, a full head and shoulders above mine, in the mirror.

"You're just very small," He countered, and nodded towards the desk, "Please sit back down. Your pacing is making me nervous."

I took one last worried look into the mirror, hoped it was just a nasty mirror, and followed the Kazekage back to my seat.

"You might as well tell me about the other... Mergers." He said in a half-order, and I nodded,

"They're all a little... unique. Or screwed up, depending on how nice you want to be about it. Oh, myself included." The Kazekage let out a small sharp out-breath, in something that could probably be considered a laugh from him. I very almost blushed, "There are twelve of us, like I said earlier. Eight guys, and four girls. The oldest of us is seven, around twenty-one, if you add that to his original human age. I'm the only three-year-old-"

"-What is that in human terms?" The Kazekage's face betrayed slight interest,

"Sixteen. How old are you 'in human terms'?" I stuck my tongue out.

"Eighteen." He said shortly.

"That's kind of young for a Kage, right?" He nodded once, and I shook my head smiling, "You don't talk much, do you? Anyway, the youngest kid's ten, just merged. I don't think Kazuhiko'd have made any more since I left. He normally only does about one a year, apart from when he's feeling really strong and whatnot, 'cause it's a pretty risky process."

"And is there any way of knowing who you were- human_ and _demon-" I smiled in thanks, "before you became- before you were kidnapped?"

"No. Well... not really. Occasionally, if you're really lucky or in tune, you might get a dream, like a memory, of who you were before. It's not like being reborn, not at all. You _know _that there are parts of your life that you don't remember, it's as if they've just been locked up in your mind somewhere. You can tell that it's there. In fact, a couple of the younger kids know their own names, their old names. Maybe Kazuhiko's losing his touch with the process of locking away those memories or something."

"Do _you_ know who you were?"

"No. I never got a dream," I laughed, "I've never been the most perceptive of people."

The conversation dried up, as a wave of fatigue washed over me and my main priority was just to keep my eyes open. Honestly, it's _hard_ to do all of that moving from place to place with little or no food and sleep, then try to convince a whole village to put their trust in me. The Kazekage seemed to understand this, boosting him right up in my estimations yet again, not speaking as he shuffled papers on his desk and we waited for Temari to return. Soon, there was a knock on the door and his sister herself poked her head in,

"Right kid, we can go now, if you're finished." The Kazekage nodded once, and I smiled sleepily. Just as I reached the door, his deep voice called me back slightly,

"Just one more thing." I turned around, "Out of the twelve Mergers, how many should we consider a threat to the village?" My heart dropped slightly, having expected a more exciting question,

"All of them. And don't forget Kazuhiko." He waited a moment, as if expecting some kind of throw-away comment or sarcastic remark from me, but I was honestly too sleepy to try. He knocked himself in the chin as some kind of motivation, then his eyes carefully avoided meeting mine,

"Come to dinner tonight. We'll be eating in our living quarters higher up in the building." He busied himself with his papers as both Temari and I stared at him, just short of having our mouths hanging open, "That is all. You may go."

Dumbfounded, I followed Temari out into the afternoon sunshine, and then she spun around to face me,

"Kid, what have you _done _to my brother?" She demanded, and I could only shrug,

"How come I'm 'kid' now? Is it a new nickname?" She just raised an eyebrow not unlike how her brother did it not so long ago, and lead me to the main market in the village to get me some real clothes and a wash in the bath house before the unexpected dinner I had been invited to.

xxx

After a nap, a change of clothes, and being scrubbed until an inch of my life, I felt like me again. And when I stepped out in a jumpsuit with a large scarf wrapped almost up to my nose and holsters for my weapons to go in once the village decided that I was actually allowed to have my weapons again, I could see Temari really see me as a proper person for the first time (Not that you could blame her, I would have hardly considered the dirty, exhausted me a person either). We made our way to the main offices for the billionth time that day as the sun set, going up an extra floor to the heavily guarded living quarters of the Kazekage and his siblings. Temari nodded to the guards apologetically as I made a face at them, and told me that there was never this much security around, but with the imminent danger I had warned them of, they weren't taking any chances. And because I'm here, they're not taking any chances, I though only half-bitterly, as Kankuro opened the door. The tall guy in his warpaint (I wondered, does he even take it off to _sleep?_ Or does he wake up with his make-up smudged into his pillow, like most of the female population after a particularly good night out?) began to smile but then froze, his hand still on the door handle, eyes wide, staring at something over our shoulders. Temari and I whipped around, to come face to face with a small brown-haired boy, not much older than twelve, who was covered in dust and sand, his eyes tired but bright, standing stock still as the guards suddenly noticed his presence and leaped to surround him.

"Mickey?!" I exclaimed, and before I knew it, everyone's attention had turned to me. "Um." I started.

**Somehow I wrote quite a long one... r&r, you know how it is ^^ Reviews are my food for writing, dear readers.**


	8. Chapter 8

"_Mickey?!... Um."_

xxxxx

All of the guards who had hurried into the corridors surrounding us turned to look at me, as the kid causing all of the commotion considered me for a moment with large, unwavering eyes, then hurled himself towards me,

"Youko! Missed you!" I caught him as he buried his face into my stomach and bit my lip as Temari raised her eyebrow at me,

"Care to explain?" She asked, her eyes flying up to see what I knew would be her little brother, come to see what was happening.

"Kazekage, there's an unknown-"

"It's alright. He's with me." I winced as I turned to face the red-haired Kazekage, with Mickey still clinging on to my legs, "Um. Yes. He's a Merger."

The guards raised their weapons threateningly, but the Kazekage called them off wordlessly with a small wave of his hand.

"Why is he here?" He asked bluntly, and I swallowed,

"Mickey, why _are _you here?" I looked down to the kid, who disentangled himself finally from my arms and stood facing me, his back firmly to the Kazekage.

"Followed you here. 'S long time." I knelt down to his side,

"Mickey, you _know _I put a lot of effort into not being followed. How are you here?"

He didn't answer, but gazed at me instead with puppy-dog eyes,

"'M hungry." He whispered, and fainted suddenly into my arms. I looked up, panicked, to see the Kazekage gesture to me,

"He can go to your room." He said briefly to me and then looked away quickly, "Temari, watch them." The shinobi who had arrived so quickly stood back wordlessly as I picked him up, and immediately regretted it. He was around twelve, and not the lightest thing in the world, despite having evidently been starved for at least two weeks. With another almost imperceptible nod from their red-haired leader, the guards parted, forming a route through the crowd for me and the unconscious boy, followed closely by Temari.

xxx

"Youko?" I looked round to see Kankuro enter my room, then turned my face back to the motionless boy on the bed. "Who is he? We need to know."

I nodded, patting the boy's head,

"He's a Merger, like me. Only a year old. I've been looking after him since he came to the Center. I guess it's not a surprise that he tried to follow me. Bit amazing he managed it, though." I frowned, and felt the Kazekage's brother rest his hand on my shoulder,

"Hey, you haven't frowned once since you came here. He'll be fine. Worry doesn't suit you."

"You've known me for all of about a day." I looked to face him again, eyebrow raised, "Worry can suit me very well indeed, when I'm in the mood." He clapped me on the back and took the seat next to me, nodding to Temari, who barely grunted a reply as she sifted through paperwork on the desk in the corner.

"Gaara wanted me to check that you were ok. He says to apologise, but you won't be able to have dinner with us, seeing as this kid put your trustworthiness here in jeopardy again."

"I figured as much." I sighed morosely, and Kankuro's eyes flew open,

"No, no, _he _doesn't think that! It's just the co-"

"-The council. I know. They really have something against me, don't they?" I smiled, "Let me guess. They reckon we're going to start flooding in here like some kind of asylum seekers, and that we'll launch an attack from the inside."

Temari laughed from where she was sitting,

"You haven't half got them down, even after just a day here!"

"Yeah, well, I tend to figure out people I don't like very quickly."

Kankuro snorted, and I leaned back in my chair,

"Man, waiting's boring!" I stretched my arms out and Kankuro nodded.

"You're right. I'm off!"

"Hey!" Temari and I both chorused, as Kankuro waved a hand at us and disappeared out of the door. I sighed, as did Temari, and we rolled our eyes at each other.

"I _have _been blessed with two wonderful brothers." She muttered, and I smiled, shaking my head,

"Well, at least they don't turn up and faint practically on your doorstep." I chuckled, pointing to Mickey.

"Oh, no, they do! At least, Kankuro does, at 5a.m., completely out of his mind with alcohol. On a weekly basis." We laughed, as a faint shout drifted through the open door,

"Hey! It's only monthly!"

xxx

I wandered up to the roof with a spare guard trailing me, unnerving him every couple of steps by accelerating into a skip, or running up the wall, or disappearing and reappearing right behind him, just for the fun of it. By the time we got there, his nerves were shot, and I was feeling much better. As we opened the door, a blaze of sunlight blinded me for a second, then I made out the silhouette of someone, staring into the distance.

"Oh, um, my lord- I apologise." The guard bowed deeply, down on one knee, and I tilted my head to observe the guy. Well, it wasn't me that guard was bowing to, so this could only be one person.

"Kazekage. Sorry to disturb you." I stayed firmly standing, as he turned to face me. His luminous gaze sent shivers through me and I cursed my over-active hormones for at least the fiftieth time that day. Then he looked at the guard,

"You may go. I will keep our guest company." The ninja looked slightly panicked, but nodded and left the roof as quickly as he could (for a ninja guy, that's fairly quick).

"What was that guy scared of? Me or you?" I grinned lopsidedly, willing the Kazekage to return the smile. He didn't.

"Probably both." He replied, and turned back to the sun, which I realised had blinded me so much because it was so low, setting, in fact. I walked carefully up to the edge of the roof, where the red-head was standing, watching all of the colours as they moved around the clouds.

"Man, it's beautiful." I whispered, and the Kazekage nodded slightly. I turned to look at his profile, and it almost took my breathe away. His hair shone in the setting sunlight, as if he were about to melt away into the sky, and his eyes looked so deep, like you could fall right into them. Man, _you're _beautiful, I thought. I turned quickly back to the sky. I seemed to have developed a crush on this guy. A rather large one. Oh dear.

"So how is he?"

"Muh?"

He raised an eyebrow, and I suddenly laughed,

"Sorry. Sorry! Mickey! Right. He's still sleeping, but it looks like he'll be fine. Just need to feed him up a bit again when he wakes up. Always needed a bit more food, anyway, that one." I smiled as a cool breeze began to play with my hair.

"He seems very young."

"Well, he is. He's only one! No wonder."

"You're only three."

"Yes. Well." I blushed, " That's just different. Some people stay like kids forever. Some don't."

"Un." The Kazekage nodded again, and I saw a slight flash of pain rip through his face, before it was replaced by his porcelain mask. I breathed in deeply. "It seems the council wish to speak to you again."

"Yeah, well they can go -" I caught myself just in time, as he turned to face my fully, that almost-smile playing around his lips again. I was so glad that the shadows were creeping in so fast. That way, he wouldn't see me blush.

"Are you blushing?" Maybe not.

"No! What- why?" I turned away, and scratched my head, frowning, "I don't blush."

"Hm." He turned away again and I breathed a deep sigh of relief.

"Kazekage... can I ask something?" I hazarded, and he said nothing. I took it as a yes. "What's it like... to be you?" I looked at him, and realised how that came out, "Oh! No, no! I mean-"

He silenced me with one dark look,

"The fact that I've been so hated? The fact that even now, even as Kazekage, my own ninja, like that guard, can't wait to get away from me?"

I looked at him, gobsmacked,

"I think that's the most I've ever heard you speak before. Say more! Say more!" He looked at me, visibly shocked, "And now you've just shown a real emotion! Hey, I'm good at this!"

I could see the confusion racing behind his eyes,

"You. Why- how do you do this?" There was also rage, I realised now, a seething wall of rage that was bubbling up and threatening to spill over. I was not looking forward to that.

"Um. I see I've overstepped the boundary a little. I'll just-"

I made to leave, but he grabbed my wrist. We stood still for countless seconds. Then, slowly, I looked down at his hand, still gripping my arm, and he let me go like I was burning.

"Sorry. I'm sorry." He put a hand over his eyes, " I don't know- I don't know what's wrong."

I sat finally on the floor.

"Pah. You think you're the only one with problems?" He took his hand away from his face, and balled it into a fist, before unclenching it, and turning to face me again. Without warning, he sat down in front of me. "I'm not turning it into some kind of contest, but... do I need to remind you how _I've _been treated since I came here?" He frowned (something that I was beginning to find just as heart-stopping as those small smiles that occasionally brightened up the room), "Not you. Or your siblings, obviously. But don't act like you're the only one. Jeez, I was just asking! I like to know the sorts of people I'm talking to, you know?"

"No. Not really."

"Well. We can start now, can't we?" I smiled, and his eyes met mine. Before I realised it, his face had broken out into a nervous, fleeting smile in answer. Then, as I could swear he was blushing, he stood up quickly and walked back to the edge of the roof.

"You must be worried about your little brother."

"Well, he's not really my brother..." Hey, I thought, he's just pulled all of those barriers up again! Darn! "I guess...I'll go check on him. Thank you, Kazeka-"

"-Wait." His voice had a quality to it that could stop me dead in my tracks, "Please. Call me Gaara."

"Uh- - no, Gaara. Thank you!" I whirled out of the door before he could see the blush on my face. And he was glad that I had gone, so that I wouldn't see the redness spreading across his own cheeks to match his hair.

**Oh, I've been waiting for that for so many chapters! It's so tiring to write out 'Kazekage' every single time :'( Anyhoo, you know the drill, and it would make me extra-specially happy, 'cause it's my extra-special birthday today ^^ Not that this is blackmailing people to review or anything... please, what do you think? I was worried that the roof scene would be a bit cliched, because, you know, _every _GaaraxOC fic has one buuuuut I couldn't resist! And it's not moving too fast, is it? Or too slowly? Hmm...**


	9. Chapter 9

**Alrighty then, I just want to say THANK YOU to everyone who reviews! Sometimes I forget to message back, but reviews are my life-blood ^.^ The reason I keep writing this is 'cause everyone's so lovely . Oh, also I realised that the last seven chapters have taken place all over one day... oops... ah well, on we go!**

I was woken by a pillow hitting me squarely in the face. As I struggled back to consciousness, my eyes opened blearily to register my attacker. Temari stood threateningly over my bed, more ammo in her hands, a scowl on her face,

"It's almost _midday._ I don't care that you're sleep-deprived, but if we don't get out of here soon, I _swear _I'm going to hurt something."

I stretched extra-slowly and rolled out of bed straight onto the floor. Lying there, I wondered if perhaps it would be kind of nice just to go back to sleep right then, but unfortunately Temari yanked me back up, and shoved a pile of freshly-bought clothes in my direction. I yawned and checked for Mickey. Then my panicked eyes met Temari's and she smiled for the first time,

"He woke up. He's eating something with Kankuro right now." My eyes must have lit up, because she laughed, and directed me to the bathroom. I changed as quickly as was humanly possible (and maybe slightly quicker than that, seeing as I am, after all, not human) and jumped back into the room, energy refreshed and rearing to go.

xxx

In the guest room next door, temporarily set up as a living area, I assumed, for Mickey and me, I saw the kid wolfing down what appeared to be the third bowl of cereal, as Kankuro watched with an awed look on his face.

"Oi. Mickey." I stood in the door, one arm rested against the frame, in an attempt to look marginally cool, and Mickey's whole face shone as he ran from the table and hugged me round the waist. "Jeez, kid, that's a bit excessive!" I laughed, struggling free, and pushed him back into his chair, nodding to Kankuro as I busied myself, pouring out some coffee. "So what's the dealio with today then? Any excitement?"

"Just a little." Temari sighed as she drew out a piece of paper, "The Council are calling for you both to be confined. Overruled by Gaara. The villagers are demanding to have you thrown out of the village. Overruled by Gaara. Your request for your weapons has been declined. Your request to see the military council has also been declined-"

"-Idiots!" I hissed, and drained my mug of coffee, "We're not exactly popular, then?"

Kankuro leaned back into his hands,

"Not really, no."

Mickey looked between the three of us, his eyes bright,

"Is it my fault, Youko?" He whispered, and I ruffled his brown, messy hair,

"Not at all! Of course not! You're too cute to cause any problems!" I raised my eyebrow at Temari and Kankuro, daring them to find any flaws in my logic, but they merely smiled.

"Youko, Gaara also requested that he have a private discussion with Mickey as well. Whenever it's possible." Temari told me, and for a moment my heart shamefully sank. So that was just what he does with Mergers, it wasn't specially for me, I thought, he didn't just want to see me. It's surprising, how fast you can get to like someone that much. Also a little worrying,

"Yup, sure, right. Um, you'll be ok with that, right, Mickey?" The small boy nodded silently and I smiled to him, "You be nice to Gaara and tell him all that you can, 'kay?" Mickey nodded again, and I saw Temari smirk,

"So you call my brother 'Gaara' now, eh?" I ignored the question, and also the meaningful looks that his siblings shared.

"Mickey, you run along and see _the Kazekage _now. I'll be waiting for you! Kankuro can go with you, right?" I looked at Kankuro, who nodded, and stood up,

"Alright, kiddo, off we go! I'll get you some proper clothes and stuff first, yeah?" Mickey smiled for the first time, a proper smile anyway, and I could see Kankuro fighting with the urge to follow my example and ruffle his hair. As he made to leave, Mickey suddenly turned and faced me with a worried look in his eyes,

"Youko... um..."

"Don't worry, it'll be fine. You just tell them what you know, and they'll be nice to you. Get some cool clothes too!"

"No, I..." He hesitated, then looked down at the floor, and left the room. I glanced at Temari, who shrugged,

"Kids are always weird. Don't worry."

"Mm." I nodded, and put my mug into the sink, "It's probably ok."

xxx

After a few hours hanging around in places where Shikamaru was likely to walk by, I had finally convinced Temari that we could just go to his office. Anyway, much as I love streams of abuse being sent my way by the deadly glares I was receiving from the villagers, it was getting a little tiring.

"It's kind of nice, in a way, though." I mused, as we paid for our drinks from a market stall, and the man handed me my lemonade as quickly as he could before disappearing with ninja-like speed. Temari looked at me sharply,

"Are you twisted or what?"

"Well, aside from the very obvious answer to that question," I grinned to myself, which didn't help the suspicious passers-by much, "The reason that they're like this is because they're being all protective over their village. More specifically, over your brother."

"What? Kankuro?" Temari feigned ignorance and I resisted the urge to snort (it's _very_ unladylike, despite my not being wholly a lady). Then her eyes softened, and she nodded, "They've come a long way, from before. Of course, a lot of them would never admit to it, but they love him. They really do." I also resisted the urge to skip happily (It's very undemon-like). Then my guard/friend suddenly grabbed my arm,

"Youko, who's _that?"_

About two hundred metres in front of us a guy was standing, stock still, staring straight at us. His ash-blonde hair seemed to glow in the afternoon sun and his dark blue desert suit moved gently around his body in the breeze. Villagers were whispering frantically as his eyes followed Temari's and my progress towards him. More specifically, my progress towards him.

"Is he some connection to you?" Temari asked in a measured voice, and I scratched my head.

"Well. Yes. I would advise you to clear this street right now." Temari hesitated, and I looked at her fully, "_Now!" _

I knew I'd get stick for ordering her later, but for the moment she just nodded, and gestured to the villagers,

"Get out of here!" She shouted. They didn't need to be told twice; one look between me and the guy in front, glowing peculiarly, was enough to scatter them. I walked slowly towards the blonde,

"Liam." My voice rang through the now empty street.

"Youko." he answered.

"Now, forgive me if I'm wrong, but you don't look like you've just spent days traveling through the desert seeking shelter and aid." I gritted my teeth as I approached him, "Temari, you stand back too."

"No, Youko-" He began, but I cut him off,

"You look fairly _relaxed, _actually. Fairly well _rested_. Almost as if you've come here for a _fight_!" With this I launched into the air, cursing my lack of weapons. In fact, just cursing the Council. I made some hand signs and came down with some liquid glass dripping through my hands,

"Youko, it's not _me!"_

I didn't listen, firing my molten glass at him in a shuriken form, and he side-stepped it easily,

"See, guilty people just don't dodge, Liam." I said sorrowfully, and fired again. This time he blocked it, and then materialised right in front of me,

"Don't make me fight you, Youko. We both know who'd win." I punched him in the face, but he didn't bother dodging. Instead, my hand hit metal as his skin began to harden.

"Yeah! Me! Don't get so cocky!" I shouted, spinning round to kick him in the side. He deflected it and tried to sweep my feet from under me, but I somersaulted into the air and came down onto his shoulders, kicking him in the face before spinning and landing in front of him again. He wiped his mouth (Not blood, just dirt, unfortunately) and shook his head again,

"I'm here to warn you! Youko-" Before he could finish, an explosion ripped through the side of the Kazekage's office building. In my shock, I didn't see his fist, and the force of his punch landed me flat on my back. "It's Mickey! He's the assassin!" I jumped up as my ears began to ring a little, and shook my head,

"No, because-"

"-He _is._ Kazuhiko sent the person more likely to be able to infiltrate with you here. Idiot!" He panted as he held out a hand, and Temari ran up to us,

"No! Temari, we can't trust him!"

"_Explosion, _Youko!" Temari looked at me unbelievingly, as I looked from the falling rubble to my opponent.

"I'm not attacking you." He said, standing back, "You started it." I took the opportunity retaliate, knocking him flat on his back with a glass jutsu, then punching a pressure point to knock him unconscious. With a look at Temari, we both turned to face the cloud of debris and began to run.


	10. Chapter 10

I ran up the stairs to the Kazekage's office, taking them two at a time, with Temari hot on my heels. As I rounded the corner to the corridor with Gaara's big heavy wooden door, I saw a crowd of guards holding little Mickey on the ground, as Gaara himself leaned on the door frame, sand still churning around in a mini-storm. I was spotted by some of the mass of shinobi, and before I could quite work out what was happening, I was pinned against the wall by several strong hands, my air supply almost cut off by a muscled arm across my throat. In any other situation I might have been thinking all kinds of things (And by that you know what kinds of things I mean), being surrounded by so many fit and muscled men. As it was, my frightened eyes met Gaara's angry ones, and I could almost have cried. Except, of course, that crying really isn't my thing.

"G--- Gaara-" I stuttered with a strangled gasp as the amount of air reaching my lungs slowly dwindled. Temari burst through the ninja, and looked between me, Gaara, and the boy on the floor, before turning decisively back to her brother,

"Tell them to let Youko go. Let her go!" She cried to the ninja, but Gaara shook his head stubbornly,

"They are not to be trusted. That boy is an assassin."

I turned my pained gaze onto Mickey, who was lying without struggling, eyes wide open and puppy-dog-like as they watched me plaintively.

"I—Idi-ot." I hissed at him, "Why-- did you-- have-to do it?"

"Kazuhiko-sensei* told me to." He whispered innocently, and I groaned. Gaara motioned for the guards to loosen their hold on me just a little, freeing up my windpipe, and he strode threateningly towards me,

"Was this a plan from the beginning? Were you in on it?"

"Of course not! I don't plan things!"

Temari shook her head,

"Youko, that's not good enough. How can we trust you?"

I was silent, they had got me. There was absolutely no way for me to prove it. Although,

"Gaara. You said I could call you that, remember?" I looked searchingly at him, and saw the anger subside, if only a little, in his eyes, "Now didn't that seem like a perfect time to kill you, if I had wanted to?"

He turned his back on me, to look at Mickey,

"We would never have given him the sort of freedom we did if you had not already won our trust. This sort of thing would never have happened."

"Yeah, but why would Kazuhiko send two of us when I could have done the job on my own?" He spun around, eyes flashing, as the ninja tightened their grip on me, "Oh face it, I could have tried it. If I had wanted to. Which, for your information, I didn't, okay?" I scowled at the people holding me back, "This just proves to you that you really need me here. Because Kazuhiko will take advantage of any kind of situation. He's not some kind of evil genius for nothing, right? Oh, by the way," I looked at some of the ninja behind Temari, "There's another one of us lying unconcious in the main street. Better go get him before he wakes up. I would have said that he was more likely to have been the assassin. Not this _idiot." _A few ninja, with a nod from their Kage, ran back the way I had come. I glared at Mickey again, who just whimpered slightly, "What did I _tell_ you, kid?"

"The only person I can trust is you, Youko." He said quietly, and I sighed,

"Exactly. So. What. Did. You. Do. That. For?"

"Kazuhiko-sensei said that this guy was being mean to you, and I had to go and save you."He whispered, looking between me and Gaara.

"Well that was stupid." I whispered under my breath, and I saw tears forming in his blue eyes, "Oh, man, Mickey, don't you start crying now!"

"Be quiet."Gaara ordered, a hand over his eyes, a frown on his forehead. Everyone looked at him, as his sand slowly drifted back into the open gourd in his room, "Now. Someone explain to me what has actually happened."

"This kid tried to assassinate you, apparently to save Youko." Temari stated, and her brother nodded, "Youko was actually in the process of fighting someone who she believed to be an assassin in the village. He told us that Mickey was going to try to kill you. Whether he was a diversion or actually trying to warn us, we don't know yet."

"Why don't we ask him?" I suggested, as three guards came in, dragging a barely conscious Liam between them. The other Merger glared at me,

"You didn't have to hit me so hard." I could see a dent in the metal that he had covered his face with. As a Merger, he could control metal, and usually covered himself in a skintight armour before battling. For a moment I felt a surge of pride at my own improved strength, than my mind returned to the situation. Gaara was gathering sand in the palm of his hand with a dangerous glint in his eyes, which all of the guards could see, and I could feel them shrinking away slightly.

"What business do you have here?" Gaara demanded, and Liam looked towards me as he replied,

"I came to save my partner."

Gaara's eyes flashed towards me, and I winced,

"Don't say it like that, Liam. They'll misunderstand." And there's one that I really don't want to misunderstand, although he probably already has, I thought, sending mind-daggers at Liam for being such a complete idiot. "Liam is just another Merger from the Center."

Liam looked down, hurt, and I rolled my eyes,

"It's not like that."He said quietly.

"Not to interrupt this reunion, but we're still in a _situation_." Temari reminded us, a never-more-welcome interruption, and I looked at Gaara, whose sand was swirling almost murderously.

"I don't like to repeat myself, but what are you really doing here?" Gaara asked quietly, and Liam met his eyes defiantly,

"I heard of Kazuhiko-sensei's plan with Mickey, and followed them here to warn Youko."

"Why aren't you more beaten up then? When both Youko and Mickey arrived, they were near starvation." Temari told him. He almost smiled, and looked at me,

"Youko's an idiot, then."

"Go away." I spat the words at him, and he snorted,

"She's the closest to a desert-demon of all of us, but she couldn't even work out how to look after herself out there. As for Mickey," He scowled at Mickey, who was lying there silently and watching it all unfold, "He was set down a two-hour walk from here yesterday morning, having been starved at the Center for a week to look more convincing."

"What do you mean 'look after myself'? It's the desert!"

"And you should have already learned about the ways in which demons survive. Your demon instincts _should_ have kicked in. Why didn't you learn that?" He asked, and I raised my eyebrows,

"So it's my fault what Kazuhiko taught me and what he didn't?"

"There are other ways of knowing." He muttered, and looked at Gaara, eyes open and honest, for once, "Kazekage, I know it is hard to believe, but I mean no harm whatsoever."

Gaara turned away, motioning for the guards to let Liam go. The Merger slumped to the floor, then rolled on his back groaning,

"Sometimes I wonder if you really love me, Youko. You punched me so freakin' hard!"

I saw Gaara freeze, then nod to the guards, who were still holding Mickey down,

"Take him into confinement, we cannot be too careful."

I pulled away from the ones keeping me back, and ran to Mickey's side,

"You did a stupid thing, kid. But I'll be here to look after you again, yeah? When they let you go." Mickey looked worriedly between me and the guards who were dragging him to his feet, "They won't hurt you. 'Kay?"

He looked down,

"'Kay." He answered in a small voice, and I watched until the guards had pulled him out of sight. Then I looked back to Gaara, who had his fist halfway into the wall,

"You... Mergers, you're nothing but trouble." He said through gritted teeth, and before I could retort, Temari had hit him around the head. For a moment no-one could quite understand what she had done, her included. Then she stepped back, shivering a little,

"Gaara, sorry. I'm sorry."

He stared at her, thunder rippling through his face, then sent a death glare my way, before disappearing into his office and slamming the door behind him.

The ninja looked between me, Temari and Liam, before bowing to Temari and getting out of there sharpishly. The Kazekage's sister sank back onto the wall, barely containing her giggles,

"I can't believe I just did that!" She said half-wonderingly, "Now he's gonna sulk for a week. Jeez."

I wandered up to Liam, who smiled at me from the floor. Holding my hand out to him, he reached up to grab it, and that was when I kicked him in the side,

"They might be letting you stay here, but I won't. What are you up to, dear?" I said super-sweetly, and pulled him up by his hair,

"Youko! Youko! He was just trying to warn us! What's the _deal _with you two?"

"We're partners." Liam said simply, and I smacked him,

"You've already caused enough trouble saying that!"

"With who? Who would care about something li- oh!" Liam gasped, and looked between me and the firmly shut door.

"'Oh'?" Temari stared in the direction Liam was looking, then back to me, "You- you don't-? Youko?!"

I groaned, slapping Liam as if as an after-thought, and strode down the corridor,

"I'm going to my room! Liam, I'd better not see you for a couple of hours, or I _will_ hurt you-"

"-More than you have already?" He complained, and I shot him a Look,

"Then, I expect you back here to tell me _everything._ Comprende?" I walked out of that corridor without a backward glance.

**And what will that everything be? Sorry, somehow this chapter took me an unreasonably long amount of time to put together, but it's here now! Oh, and**

*** -sensei – means teacher, according to my manga-japanese ^^ You'll be needing that again. There's a reason why all the Mergers add the -sensei except Youko... Review, my lovely people, review!**


	11. Chapter 11

Temari found me slamming my head into a handily placed wall.

"You're not supposed to go running off out of my sight, you know." She told me, and walked past me into my room, "That sucks about Mickey." I stopped what I was doing for a second to stare at her in amazement at how obvious that statement was, then returned to the aforementioned quest to kill braincells. She just shook her head at me and sprawled back onto my bed. "So. You and Gaara, huh?"

This time I did stop what I was doing, leaning back with my arms above my head onto the door frame,

"There is no 'me and Gaara'. There's just me." I said quietly, and Temari sighed,

"And _you _appear to have some baggage, correct?"

I groaned,

"Liam isn't even baggage! He's just-"

"-Just what?" Speak of the devil, he appeared at my elbow and I yelped, falling backwards into the room. Recovering quickly, I glared at the guy,

"Just a pain in the backside." I replied, and waited for him to follow me into the room before I pinned him to the wall by the neck. Temari leapt up but I shook my head at her,

"This is a private thing, Temari. You don't need to be involved." She looked like she might try to speak, but then closed her mouth again and sat back down on the corner of the bed to watch.

"You were the only one who could have known where I'd go. How does Kazuhiko know I'm here?" I asked, my voice betraying my desperation slightly, and Liam rolled his eyes,

"Please! It was obvious you'd come here! Surely you can see that."

"So if it's all that obvious, why did you let Mickey get that far? Or was that not obvious too?"

"I had to let Kazuhiko-sensei put his plan into action. Otherwise how else would you believe me? Much as you like me, Youko, I know you'd put Mickey over me."

"Stop saying 'you like me', 'you love me', okay? Quit it!" I emphasised my point by ramming him harder into the wall. He chokes a little and I relented, turning around and sitting in my chair. Temari looked at me, as if she might intervene, but thought better of it. I sighed, suddenly very tired, "Liam. It's ok. I trust you. I _think._"

"About freaking time!" He slumped down onto the floor by the wall, stretching his arms above his head, "It's ok, though. I didn't expect anything less from you. I know you, darling."

"Mm!" I said warningly, looking between him and Temari, who just leaned back to look interestedly between us,

"So what exactly _is _going on with you two?"

I groaned,

"He's like my brother, okay?"

"No I'm not!"

"Liam!"

"I'm more like... her keeper. Her partner. Her best friend, in other words."

"He _was_ my best friend. Dear, you _were._" I said super-sweetly, and he looked down,

"You know I said I couldn't tell you."

"So you _were_ working for him, then?"

"No!" He suddenly shouted, fire in his eyes, "I never would!"

Temari took this perfect moment to interject (her timing as impeccable as always),

"Just tell me what happened. You guys need to communicate more than with your fists," This she directed straight at me, "Jeez!"

I glared at Liam,

"Basically. 'Cause we were close age-wise, we stuck together. But, about a year ago Liam started acting all weird, especially if I mentioned how much I was getting sick of Kazuhiko. I mean," I shrugged to Temari, "You might think we would get brainwashed by him, but for us it wasn't really like that. It was our whole life, but we knew there was more to see, more to do than just blindly follow that frankly evil man. So. I came to the obvious conclusion that Liam was his spy. He didn't deny it. Ergo, here we are."

I refused to meet Liam's eyes as he stood up, and walked towards me, only stopping when Temari shook her head at him,

"I didn't know you would actually think that, Youko. I'm- I'm sorry. Really sorry." I didn't look up, but he could tell that I was listening, "It wasn't like that. At all. Look, maybe I was protecting myself too much, or something, but if I'd told you, someone would have overheard. I mean think about all the times someone told on you and-"

"Don't." I looked at him this time, "Just don't."

He looked away so that he wouldn't see the pain in my eyes,

"Well. I didn't want that to happen."

"Quite right! You wouldn't have lasted, anyway, you weakling." I taunted, and he recognised my need to get away from the subject. Temari was just taking it all in wordlessly, so I took a moment to shrug to her,

"Don't worry. It was nothing. Right! Liam. More talking now please."

"Yeah, sure. I was a spy, okay?"

"What?!" I sprang up from my seat, but he pushed me back into it again,

"For the other side, Youko! The demons!"

I paused, not quite breathing, not quite soaking it in,

"The... demons?"

"Do you not think that they would mind their brothers, sisters, children going missing? Oh, it was fine with the humans, Kazuhiko-sensei made sure that we were all either orphans, or that he'd killed the parents-"

"What?!" This time it was Temari who spoke.

"Evil guy, remember, Temari. Obviously." I motioned for Liam to continue.

"But he didn't do the same thing for the demons. After all of his lectures on how he had created such a perfect bridge between demons and humans, it turns out he's just another prejudiced bastard. Oh, don't get me wrong, there are loads in the demon world as well. But they're the ones who have been enslaved for generations. Honestly, they leaped on the chance to get back at a human a bit too eagerly, but help they will."

"So why didn't something happen a year ago, when you first made contact with them?"

"It takes a long time to plan such an attack, Youko. Especially when demons are at such a disadvantage in this world. And it's hard to get those who haven't been affected to help."

"So who knows? Apart from you, I mean, out of the Mergers, who knows?"

"Just me. They couldn't risk getting one of Kazuhiko-sensei's faithfuls involved."

"And you didn't tell me." I said quietly, "Who's the one with the trust issues, Liam?"

He knelt down next to me, I looked straight into my eyes. If this had been Gaara, I might have been a pool on the floor by then, but Liam is like family.

"Youko. I love you."

Oh dear.

"What?" I could hardly ask anything else,

"I mean, I loved you."

"What?!" I was honestly flummoxed this time.

He sighed, obviously trying to find the exact way to phrase it, as he was doing a pretty bad job right then,

"The demons inside of us. They were...well, in the demon world you don't get married, but it's something like that. Actually, more like engaged. So when I disappeared, you, or rather, the demon that you were, came looking for me, and fell into the same trap. I'm sorry. I was just... embarrassed. I didn't want you to find out about the demons because then you'd find out about... that."

I didn't say anything for a moment, letting that information digest.

"Are you a freaking idiot?!" I shouted, and shoved him away, before getting out of my seat and pacing the room, "What's with this embarrassment crap? You didn't think I needed to know something as important as a way out of that place?"

"I felt responsible for you getting caught, Youko!"

"Well too bad for you. Look. Liam." I turned to face him, "We may have been in love like that once upon a time. But what's the point of a fiance if he can't even talk to you about things that actually matter? Like knowing who you were. Like knowing that we weren't going to be shut in that _hell_ for eternity."

"I know!" He suddenly hit back, " I know, I've been an awful friend. It was just plain wrong not to tell you. I don't blame you for thinking that I was Kazuhiko-sensei's spy. I would have done too."

We sat in silence, then I groaned,

"Man, I don't like all this fighting."

"You asked for it." Liam said slowly, the twinkle in his eye returning.

"So what was the big plan, then? What were you up to, that was so important you had to make me hate you and all?"

"Well, that plan's void now, anyway."

"How come?"

"When you escaped. Um." Suddenly a dark look spread across his face, "Some of the younger _idiots_ in that world decided that the chaos would be a perfect moment to strike. I told them no, but they went anyway. Now Kazuhiko-sensei knows about the movement over there. It'll be near impossible to get in as a demon again."

"Shucks, that's not too good. Man, I wouldn't have even run away if I'd _known._"

He ignored my pointed comment.

"So I decided I might as well follow you out. My cover was blown. I think our last hope was smashed."

"Don't say that too soon." Temari smiled, "So they know about demons trying to get in, do they?" Liam and I nodded miserably, "Well, we'll just have to get humans in, then, won't we?"

"... Is that even allowed?" I asked slowly.

"I'll talk to the Council."

"Oh, we're screwed, then."

"Not so fast! It depends how you put it to them. Despite their looks, they're brilliant tacticians, and they'll do anything to help the Village. If we tell them that this is a very close, present danger that we need to attack at its source, they'll listen. Mickey was an illustration of what will happen if they don't."

"...It might work." Liam muttered, "But. There's a but."

"There always is." I sighed.

"Don't let excitement run away from you. There's a reason that Kazuhiko-sensei could fend off a demon attack. He's strong. As in, really strong."

"Oh dear..." I murmured under my breath as Temari bristled,

"And you think that the Village Hidden in the Sand isn't?! We created that man, we can destroy him."

"Don't forget about the Mergers. Not all of them want to escape. Not all of them hate Kazuhiko-sensei like us."

"But some do, right? We can use that. There's always a way. Let me just get something straight," She paused to wait for nods from the two of us, "If this Center gets the better of our village, he'll turn his attention on the other Great Shinobi Nations, am I right?"

"Well, I assume he wants the same as most evil geniuses, you know, world domination, with him at the top, probably."

"So the other nations _will_ help. I'm sure of it."

She smiled, and drew answering smiled from Liam and me,

"This could actually work." I said wonderingly.

"I'll go ask Gaara."

"Oh." I stopped, the excitement dying down, "He'll probably say no."

"Why?" Temari raised her eyebrow at me, "He loves the village too."

"Yeah, but not us so much right now." I sat back down, the very picture of melancholy,

"Man, Youko, you really like that guy, don't you?" Liam teased me, and I blushed violently,

"Shut up! You're so annoying! You're still very much in the dog house because of just about the entire of last year, mister."

It couldn't be helped, the seed had been firmly planted in Temari's brain,

"You know, it might be good for him, to have someone tell him they like him." She mused.

"And it's good for Youko to get out of the house a bit, see the world, get her heart broken, that kind of thing."

"I think quite a few of the girls form the village have crushes on him, but they quake in their shoes at the thought of even talking to him."

"It's good for a guy's self-esteem for a pretty girl to confess to him."

"He needs to realise that he's become a normal person now."

"Yup, those things are totally possible for him."

"Now he doesn't have the whole killing addiction..."

Both Temari and Liam looked at each other, before breaking into large smiles and turning to me,

"We're behind you a hundred percent of the way!"

"Go get him!"

I wondered what had been born. Surely a very horrible thing indeed. It almost made me shudder.

**Somehow what Liam said was a surprise to me to- sometimes these characters just go and say what they want to, and leave me scrabbling to pick up my plan of the story from around their feet. Really, they're so inconsiderate! Anyhoo, you know what I like the most? Reviews.**


	12. Chapter 12

Temari was true to her word, and the next morning I sat in with the war council ( a slightly younger group of prejudiced gits) with Liam to help come up with a Plan. Gaara was there too, but I saw no warmth in his eyes, practically no recognition. I didn't want to even let myself hope that he was hurt because he thought I liked someone else, I shouldn't assume a more important role for myself but... somehow I couldn't help it. My mind kept returning to the thought that he could even be jealous. Hope is an annoying aspect of the human nature. And the demon one, come to think of it. Really, they have a lot more in common than they give each other credit for.

xxx

After a successful hour and a half of being grilled for my knowledge of the structure of the Center, the strength of the other Mergers, possible ways in, and Kazuhiko himself, I wandered out of the chamber to relax, followed closely by Liam, as the humans decided what to do in their secretive way (i.e., they wanted to decide what to do about us without us nosying in). We sat in one of the various rooms set out for foreign travellers, diplomats and the like, kitted out with a few sofas and chairs, and not much else.

"So." Liam and I both said, then sniggered together. But I had something serious to say, and he could sense that.

"Youko, just get it over with. What's on your mind?"

It was incredibly easy to slip back into my old way of being close to him, and I went to sit next to him on a sofa, pulling my knees to my chin,

"Liam. I need to ask you something." I began with a sigh, and he whistled a stream of air out,

"Sounds a bit ominous. Go ahead." His eyes crinkled, and I turned to face him,

"You ...you don't expect us... to be... y'know, an item, now I know about our whole past life?" I finished breathlessly and for a second he said nothing. Then he let out a short bark of laughter, and I reddened,

"That was it? Jeez, Youko! No, I don't!" I looked searchingly into his eyes, to check he was telling the truth, and I could see nothing but honesty there. I began to laugh along with him, then remembered myself again,

"I guess that's good. I mean, I'm glad." He cuffed me playfully around the head,

"I understand. No, really, I do. I _think-_" Here he stopped, and a benign twinkle began to shine in his eyes, " I think I might have even been worrying about the same thing, deep down."

I grinned along with him, then shrugged,

"Good. Good- so. Um. There's one more thing..." He nodded me onwards, "You found out about... well, I don't want to say _us_, because it wasn't, not really, but you know, 'us'... so you must know a reasonable amount about my past... I mean, the past of the demon I once was."

He looked away suddenly, and I had to pull his hand to get him to meet my eyes again,

"It's- do you really want to know?"

I considered his question,

"I would be lying if I said that what happened to me in my past life means nothing to me. But at the same time, it's happened, and also... it wasn't really _me_. So go on."

He hesitated, then took my hand,

"No. Youko, I can't. It's up to you to find out for yourself."

"Aw man, now you've made me really want to know!" I stuck my tongue out at him, and ruffled his hair when he looked down at his lap, "Don't you worry your little socks off, 'kay?"

Gaara chose this moment to walk in, and almost turned around and went straight back out again when he saw our position; sat millimetres apart on the sofa, my arms round his neck. Let's face it, I was practically sitting on his lap. But Kankuro pushed him into the room with a firm hand on the back, and made a face at us,

"Sorry for disturbing the two _lovebirds_." Something in his voice told me that Temari had already filled him in on exactly which guy I actually had feelings for, and was doing this for the pure trouble-making pleasure. As such, I glared at him, and stood up, nodding my head to Gaara,

"I hope my information was useful, in the meeting."

"Yes... very." He seemed to be waiting for someone else to speak, or maybe he was just distracted by his own thoughts. If my jealously theory was right (and I still hoped that it was), he would be distracted by the particular thought of me sitting on the lap of some other guy, who said I loved him just the day before. This, of course, is all speculation. Hopeful speculation. Luckily Kankuro butted in before we could spend too long staring at each other like rabbits caught in headlights,

"So tell them, Gaara! What we decided." Gaara gave a sidelong look to his brother, the meaning of which I couldn't begin to decipher, then looked firmly at the midpoint between me and Liam, not quite facing either of us,

"Liam... we decided to send you as a messenger to one of the other Hidden Villages; it will be easier to get the message across if you are the ones going. Youko, you can accompany him, as his _partner_."

His words made me flinch inwardly. From the looks of it, neither Kankuro or Temari were going to help in any way, just watching with amusement as the scene progressed, but luckily Liam stepped in for me,

"I don't think Youko would actually want to go." He said slowly, and Gaara focused in on him for the first time, but evidently couldn't think of anything quite worth saying back. I rolled my eyes,

"He can do it on his own, right?" Gaara nodded in affirmation, "Then...I would prefer to stay here."

Now I could see the slight confusion pass across Gaara's features, "I mean- I mean,"I said hastily, "There's a lot still to be done, coordinating the attack. You'll need one of us to stay."

Behind Gaara, his siblings sighed angrily. My answers were in no way going to get me any closer their plan of Youko-confessing-to-Gaara-in-a-lovey-dovey-situation. But somehow I couldn't bring myself to say anything to him: quite apart from anything else, I had no idea what I _would _say.

Gaara just looked between us both, then nodded slightly, and swept out, pushing past his brother and sister slightly, who then both turned to shake their heads at me. I stuck my tongue out,

"Cut it the hell out, you manipulative people!" I scowled, and threw myself onto an armchair.

"Don't blame him from getting the wrong idea though. I mean, when we came in and saw you on the sofa, _I _thought-"

"Yes, I know what he'd have thought!" I snapped, a little snappier than I would have liked. As one, they whistled,

"Now, now, a woman in love can truly be a fearsome thing," Kankuro instructively said, and Temari and Liam both nodded fiercely, as if they were knowledgeable in such matters. I threw my hands up in the air and slumped further down,

"You guys are making it into some kind of farce!" I muttered, and they laughed at my face, still with the hint of a blush lingering, and pulled me up to go have lunch in the village with them.

xxx

It was only much later that I saw Gaara again. I would be lying if I said that I hadn't been waiting for him, being on the roof as I was. With my back to the door, I felt his presence as he burst out into the sandy air, hesitated and tried to turn around again.

"Wait!" I called, and twisted around to look at him. He froze, a little sheepishly, and walked over to me, and then past to the edge of the roof. Then he looked over his shoulder at me, saw I was watching, and turned hurriedly back. I couldn't help but laugh ever-so-slightly, and this time he did look at me fully, to glare at me,

"What's so funny?" He asked, short-tempered. I shook my head at him, and scooted over. Although he stiffened, he said nothing, and I settled myself next to him.

"You're staying." He stated, and I nodded slowly,

"Is there a problem?"

His forehead crinkled adorably,

"Wouldn't... you rather go with Liam?"

I bit my lip,

"No."

"..." Sometimes his silence spoke volumes.

"Look. He's not my boyfriend. He's just a really close friend. More like... my brother... But, I mean, why do you care?" I couldn't help it, I needed a tiny little bit of confirmation from him that what I thought he was feeling wasn't all some fantasy on my part. He frowned,

"Why _do _I care?" He said, half to himself. After that, we didn't speak for a while, just watched the clouds drift lazily across the blue sky. Then, "Like your brother?"

"Yeah."

We looked on in companionable silence as the sun drifted towards the horizon, then finally at the last moment disappeared behind it. Once its last rays had stopped peeking out above the far off mountains, a cool wind swept through and ruffled our hair. I shivered.

"You're cold." He had a strange way of stating things that would have been questions. I guess that's what you get with authority like he has. I shook my head,

"I'm fine."

He shrugged off the training jacket he was wearing, and held it out to me wordlessly. Equally as silent, I took it, and just held it for a minute trying to work out what to do with it.

"Well? Put it on!" He commanded, and I did as I was told, sinking in to the warm jacket thankfully as I realised that I had actually been very cold indeed.

"You'd think I would be able to cope better with the night time temperatures of the desert."

"Why?" He asked interestedly (as interested as he was capable of showing himself to be).

"You know... I'm practically a desert demon after all."

He started a little, at the reminder of what I was. I guess for humans, it's quite easy to forget when we look so much like them.

"Liam said that before. What does it mean?"

"It means that the demon who I was before was a desert type- so, it would have lived there, that's its habitat."

"But you're still a human too."

"Mmm, I guess I am." I pulled the jacket tighter around me, and sniffed it, inhaling the iron mixed with sand scent that could only have been Gaara's. I risked a sideways look at him, and was slightly surprised by the amount of fishnet he wore underneath his red ceremonial outfits. It twined around his arms and his legs, and reached over his chest underneath a white training vest. Then I had to look away very fast as I noticed the rippling muscles that strained slightly in the tight vest. Not that I'm not used to muscles – at the Center, there are three times the amount of guys than girls, and believe me, we were kept in good shape – but there was something about the way Gaara was sitting, with his wrists resting lightly on the top of his knees and those _muscles_ that made me go very very red, very very quickly.

"Aren't _you _cold?" I asked to distract myself, and he shook his head,

"I... come here a lot at night. I'm used to it."

"Being used to it and not feeling it are two different things." I grumbled, but couldn't bring myself to hand back the really very comfortable jacket. Instead we sat there in silence once again and I noticed the lights that had begun to appear down in the village reflect in his eyes. Our lack of conversation began to gnaw at me, and just as I was struggling with whether I would have to say something as inane as 'Aren't the stars pretty?', he slammed his fist into the ground and turned to face me, a peculiar fire burning brightly in his already luminous eyes,

"Youko." It came out huskily, and I gulped.

"... Yes?"

"I...I-" He looked away as quickly as he had turned towards me, and I found it very hard to breathe all of a sudden.

"Gaara. What is it?"

Then his nose was right in front of mine, his breath hot on my cheek and his eyes captivating me,

"What are you doing to me?" He demanded, as I tried ever so hard to remember even my name. "What is this- this _feeling_? It _unnerves_ me." You're unnerving me right now, I thought. "What _is _this?"

I was getting the feeling that if I carried on looking into his eyes, I might die, but if I looked away I would probably die as well. It's hard to think very rationally when you're full of that much intense feeling (Yes, I laughed at myself once he had left, too, so you're allowed to as well). A millimetre at a time, I edged myself closer to him, until I could hear our breaths synchronising, and possibly even our heartbeats. And just-

Kankuro slammed the door to the roof joyfully open and strode out towards us. We had sprung apart, and now refused to look at him, each other, the ground, anything. He took the situation in with amused eyes, and crossed his arms,

"They're looking for you downstairs, Gaara. They need some official business to do with this whole sending Liam thing dealt with." Gaara stood with one fluid movement and walked wordlessly back the way Kankuro had come. His brother took one look at me and I gritted my teeth.

"I swear, if you say a word, _one word,_ you will live to regret it. I _promise._"

He silently grinned very widely and pulled me up,

"You can come and say your long heartfelt goodbye to Liam now, if it suits you. I'll make sure to bring Gaara back at just the right time."

I punched him in the shoulder, hard enough to actually hurt, and scowled, motioning with my hand that he should follow me downstairs. He rubbed his shoulder with mock shock on his face and ran to catch up with my long, embarrassed strides.

**Somehow I couldn't let them kiss yet ^^ Ah well, maybe next time? By the way, did anyone else get sudden Star Wars undertones? 'He's... [like] my brother.' Heeeh**


	13. Chapter 13

"That's the first time Gaara's ever gone willingly to do some paperwork." Kankuro told me laughingly as we began the long journey to the entrance to the Hidden Village. Surrounded by tall cliff faces, and looking over an expanse of desert, it seemed a fairly ideal place for one of those heartfelt goodbyes. The same thought had obviously occurred to Liam, as when we drew near to the gate, he turned, a silhouette against the glaring light of the desert, his dark blue robe spinning with him and seeming to freeze for a second. I looked at him, and he looked at me, eyes wide and threatening tears.

"Youko-"

"Liam-"

What our gaze might have been communicating – the friendship, the hurt, the loss, the joy at how we were reunited, only to be crushed as we said goodbye again – was lost in the heat of the midday desert sun.

I leapt, but he dodged easily and caught my fist as it swung around again in an attempt to punch him. He smiled winningly and I sighed,

"Not even one ikkle punch? It won't hurt- probably."

He laughed and spun me away, putting his arms behind his head,

"Haven't you proven your strength to me enough already?"

"Nope." I tried to get past his defences again, but this time I ended up face down in the dirt, groaning, his hand made of metal firmly pressed into my shoulder blade,

"Now, now, children, play nice!" Temari called.

"Is this usual? Or are they actually trying to kill each other? What a drag..." The guy whose name I remembered as Shikamaru slouched out of the shadows, nodding to us both, and then to Temari, who blushed furiously.

"This guy's the one you're taking to Konoha with you, Shikamaru." Temari said, and looked away. I sighed, and allowed Liam to pull me back to my feet, then gave him a massive bear hug. Expecting another assault, he tensed, and then picked me up and spun me round,

"I'm glad you finally forgave me." He whispered into my ear, and I grinned, before headbutting him squarely in the forehead,

"It'll take a little longer. Man, I feel so much better now!" I stretched and smiled at Liam, as he shook his head, smiling back.

"Don't do anything stupid while I'm gone." He said and I widened my eyes,

"Who? Me?"

Beside us, Temari had wandered up to Shikamaru and was taking no measures to hide how much she liked him. Intrigued, me, Liam, and Kankuro looked on as Shikamaru suddenly gathered her up into his arms and kissed her in a way that in any period drama would be classed as 'soundly'. I winked suggestively to Liam and he just shook his head, smiling,

"I actually will miss you, Youko."

I gave him a half-smile,

"It's not like you're going far away, or for very long."

"Yeah, but knowing you, even if I'm only gone for three days, you'll have done something drastically dramatic and major."

I shrugged,

"Yup, sounds kind of familiar. Don't worry." I said softly as the two beside us pulled away from each other, both red, to the sound of our cheers, and then the boys took off, running at one of those ninja-like speeds and leaving dust trails behind them far into the desert. " Don't do anything I wouldn't! Or anyone!" I shouted after them, and then watched them go with the siblings of the Kazekage, biting my lip, as my eyes caught sight of Liam stopping for a second, to spin around and wave, then set off again. I didn't feel lonely but I definitely felt... more alone.

xxx

"I want to see Mickey." I said decisively, and relished the sudden silence that followed. I had been sitting in the sun on the street with Kankuro and Temari, talking and laughing over some cake, as if they didn't have a job to do, and as if I didn't have an invasion to plan. I like moments like that, when you forget. But a sudden urge to see Mickey had come over me, and the little voice in my head forced me to say it, even though my fragile position in this village could be ripped to shreds with an accusation of fraternising with the enemy or the like, but both of the ninja simply nodded,

"He's practically family to you, right? We wouldn't keep you from each other." Temari polished off her slice of Victoria sponge and sat back, satisfied. I looked disbelievingly between the two, and Kankuro nodded,

"Of course, you'll have the guards in there. We're not stupid. But me and Temari, and maybe even Gaara," Here he winked at me, and I stuck my tongue out at him, "will vouch for you. Okay? Do what you want. Go see the kid."

I couldn't help from grinning as I hugged them both, stunning them slightly, then skipped up to the main building.

xxx

I hurled into the room and practically threw myself on Mickey, causing the slightly rickety chair they had him on to almost collapse. Disentangling myself from him, I nodded happily to the ninja, who had jumped up when I rushed in. One of the guards who had let me through popped his head lazily round the door,

"It's ok- she's got permission from Temari and Kankuro." The other guards eyed me warily, but nodded, and I cupped Mickey's cheeks with my hands,

"Mickey! How's life?" I grinned and gave him a big kiss on his nose, which he wrinkled. Laughing, I stood up and sat on the table; it seemed they had Mickey in the interrogation room where I had received my own welcome to this village.

"S'ok." He mumbled, and settled himself back into his chair.

"Hey, is it ok, me being here? I mean, you're investigating and all." I asked the guards, but they just shrugged,

"We aren't getting anything out of him anyway." One said, before the others glared at him and he looked away again.

"So. Mickey, dear." I looked back at the kid, who met my eyes with an unwavering blank stare, "... You're not going to tell me anything, are you?" I said after a minute, and he nodded slowly,

"Sorry, Youko."

I ruffled his hair,

"I'm sure the reasons you have are stupid, bu-ut there we go."

"N-no, Youko, they're not."

"Oh, I bet they are." I stuck my tongue out at him, and watched his cute little inner turmoil.

"B-but- um... Youko-"

"-What?"

His eyes suddenly filled with water and I froze,

"Hey, guys-" I spun around to the guards, and leapt off the table, "You might want to breathe in."

"Wh-"

Before they could finish, a tidal wave emanated from Mickey as he let out a sob. Fighting my way through the onslaught of water, I reached the small boy, from whose eyes tons upon tons of water were pouring into the room. Grabbing him, I picked him up, despite the sheer force of the wave almost sweeping me away, and hugged the kid. Seconds passed. Then, slowly, the intensity of the water subsided, and finally, it disappeared, leaving us completely dry where moments earlier we were soaked. I turned apologetically to the guards, who wore matching disbelieving expressions, and shrugged apologetically, Mickey in my arms,

"He's a water-type. He may be a cry baby but-" Here I gave Mickey an extra squeeze, "This kid's power comes from his cowardice."

"That's... weird." One managed after a while, and I grinned to them, before turning back to Mickey,

"What's wrong, then? What was that for?"

He turned his ocean-blue eyes on mine and I saw them threatening tears,

"It's- It's... 'cause I have to do this."

xxx

I woke up flat on my back. That was the first strange thing. The second one was that when I rolled onto my side, I was faced with a sleeping man, a ninja. For a moment I was in a blind panic, until I realised that he was wearing clothes, and, on further inspection, so was I. You always have to check these things. The third strange thing was that Mickey wasn't there. I jumped up and kicked the guards awake, having been splayed around the room in varying stages of slumber. To their credit, they jumped up with me, wielding ninja weapons.

"This is what happens when your council don't give me my own weapons back." I said tiredly, and glared at them all, as they just stared blankly back, "That was a Merger weapon Mickey used there; it's one I could have easily countered, but you guys- sorry – but you guys are no match for it."

They gulped,

"He's completely gone." One said slowly,

"State the obvious." I slapped my forehead, and then stretched, "Guess I'll be going to tell your Kazekage then." I said when nobody moved, and sprinted out of the little room.

xxx

I had mixed emotions when I found Gaara perfectly unscathed sitting in the council chamber. The good news was that he wasn't hurt. The bad news was that it meant that Mickey had run away, probably back to Kazuhiko, with reconnaissance information. And the annoying news was that now all those old has-beens from the council were objecting to my sudden appearance.

"What's _it _doing here?"One cried, and I shot a death glare at him,

"How many times?! If I _look_ like a girl, you address me as such. Kazekage, Gaara- Mickey's escaped. He's not here – evidently- so he must have gone back to the Center."

I let this information digest for a few moments, then stood calmly in the midst of the panic eruption. Gaara silenced the councillor's babble with one hand movement, and stood up. His eyes met mine, and I knelt, for the first time,

"Please, let me go and find him. He has a weapon on him that normal ninja are no match for."

"No."

My eyes widened,

"Bu-"

"-Council is dismissed. This is an emergency. Please set the defence plans in motion. Youko, go and wait in my office."

I watched in admiration as Gaara directed the suddenly very mobile council, a certain fluidity and grace in his movements, then remembered myself and hurried to his office, passing Kankuro and Temari on the way and filling them in.

xxx

I waited for about half an hour before Gaara came slightly tiredly through the door and shut it heavily behind him.

"Why do you have to put the defence plans into motion?" I asked, and he walked past me to sit down in his office chair,

"With the information he may have gathered... it is very probably that Kazuhiko will launch an attack imminently."

"And that's not too good..." I nodded along, then leaned across the table, "But _why _can't I go to try and get Mickey back?" I looked at him seriously and he returned the stare,

"It's dangerous."

"Oh please!" I pushed myself to my feet and stalked across his office floor, "It's way too dangerous to send some of your own villagers. But _I _could catch him up, overpower him, stop him from taking that information back to the Center, the end, Youko saves the day!" I slammed my hands into the table, "_Why not?_"

Gaara looked at me, and I gulped. As I may have mentioned before, it's hard to keep your resolve when it's Gaara. Then he looked down first, and that was enough of an acceptance of my point for me to settle down, and slump back into my chair,

"There's nothing to do but wait." he said finally. I leaned my elbows on to my knees, and rubbed my forehead with a weary hand,

"I'm- I'm sorry. It's probably my fault."

"No it's not." He said surprisingly quickly, and I looked up to see a redness grow then fade rapidly across his cheekbones. He recovered himself, "Like you say, the fact that you were there meant that he had even less of a chance of success."

"Yeah, but he did, didn't he? Succeed, I mean."

"You were taken by surprise."

"I'm practically a ninja. It's not a good enough excuse and you know it."

"Everyone makes mistakes. That was a mistake."

Then I suddenly realised, he was actually trying to comfort me. Gaara, comfort me? Intrigued, I tried a little further,

"That weapon he had, I could have easily countered."

"You weren't to know he had it. We didn't even know."

He is, he actually is trying! I thought excitedly, then remembered the events of the last couple of hours, and sank back a little into despair.

"Can I at least have my weapons back now?" I asked disparately and to my surprise, he nodded,

"I'll have them sent to you as soon as possible."

I stood,

"Gaara." He looked up, sensitive to the change in my tone of voice, and I could see that his face had softened considerably, his eyes practically... human, "You do know... if you give me my weapons back, I'm just going to go after Mickey." I said honestly. He looked down to some papers, shuffling them with one hand,

"I know."

"Wh-" Beneath the mop of red hair a small smile was definitely there, I could see it. I grinned slowly, as he went to the door of his office and motioned to one of the guards,

"Bring Youko her weapons back. They should be in the confiscation unit 2."

He returned to his seat, and I leaned over his desk towards him,

"But you said before, 'it's dangerous'!"

"Are you trying to change my mind?"

"Far from it! But-"

He looked up, his eyes more unreadable than ever before, enough to silence me mid-argument,

"I recognise that whatever I say, you'll do it anyway, won't you?" He broke our eye contact again, so I had to do more than just nod wordlessly,

"You know me better than I thought."

He didn't reply, just sat there writing some important-looking documents until an out-of-breath ninja appeared at the door,

"Youko's weapons, my lord." He announced, and Gaara nodded without looking up, so I went to the guy and took them myself. He smiled nervously and disappeared, leaving me with a bundle.

"Hey, it's like Christmas!" Kankuro announce, appearing in the hallway, followed closely by Temari and some of the men I recognised from the war council. I moved to let them into the office, then hurried into a corner to unpack my things. Kankuro was right, it _was _like Christmas, and unwilling smiles kept stealing onto my face. I was very aware that Gaara was aware of every movement I made, and without really thinking, when I re-found my favourite dagger, I shamelessly spun it around my fingers in an attempt to impress.

Finally finished packing my weapons into the various compartments I had around my outfit, I stood up. Only Gaara watched as I nodded to him, and attempted to sneak out of the door.

"Youko." His voice called me back, and I stayed frozen in the doorway. Without warning, he appeared at my side, dragging me further into the corridor and out of the sight of the gathering in his office,

"What? What's wrong?" I was very aware of how close he was, his hand still on my arm and his head only centimetres away. Then it was only millimetres away. Then I felt his breath on my cheek and his voice in my ear,

"Come home safe." He murmured, then moved slightly and his lips were on mine. It only lasted for a second, before he pulled away and gave my back a push, "Now, go."

I stayed where I was, frozen, for a fraction of a second, then, as people began to drift into the hallway to see what was going on, my face broke into a massive smile,

"I'll come back without even a bruise! I swear!"

I bit my lip, and looked at Gaara once more time, his messy red hair, his tired eyes and his almost shining tattoo, his flowing white cotton that swept around his limbs and draped across his throat, then waved, and sprinted down the corridor and away.

**Oh dear, I guess Liam was right, she really _can't_ trusted for more than a day XP I know that chapter was a long time coming, but was it suitably... suitable? Thoughts? Xx**


	14. Chapter 14

I had begun the arduous trek through the desert, cursing my lack of foresight for my forgetting water and other key things for maintaining life and all that, and attempting to find out if I really did have any special desert demon powers, like Liam said he thought I did, when I walked into the demon world.

Now, that's not something that it's very easy to do. It's not like the entrances are just dotted around for people to trip over and go head-first down into that place. Although that's probably what Alice did, only she called it 'Wonderland', instead of 'the place where I used to live before I became what I became'.

Descriptions aren't my strong point.

But walk in I did, and it was only when it was too late that I felt the cool pull of a different wind and tasted the non-air that drifted into my mouth that I realised something was odd. Honestly, you'd expect someone like me at least to sense these things. There are full humans out there who are more in-tune with tiny details like overlaps of this world into a different dimension. This is unfortunate, especially given my situation at that time.

Maybe I just didn't realise because it was night time in the desert, and it was night time here, in so far as they have a night (I would say it's more like they have midnight, and dusk, and small variations between the two). That world isn't actually a desert either, more of a place that doesn't even realise that plants should be growing there, or that the sandy ash that covered it wasn't the usual mineral-rich soil of other worlds. No wonder you get so many demons chancing it in the human world, that place is so freaking depressing.

Once I realised, I whipped around, but all I could see for miles were the gently sloping hills of ash that characterised the landscape everywhere here. Oh shoot.

Then, when I turned around again, possibly the worst thing that could have happened had happened. Three demons had materialised in formation in front of me, and I doubted that they were the welcome team. I smiled shakily, as they began to slowly circle.

"How did a human child end up here?" One murmured in a voice that grated like sandpaper on skin.

"There wasn't a known portal." Another one hissed, as if it were my fault that I had haplessly stumbled into one. I cleared my throat.

"Um."

"It speaks, it speaks!" The second one cawed, and darted at me. I leapt away, to the sound of their tinny laughter.

"Boys, boys... you _are _boys, right?" At this they bared their teeth, and I realised that it wasn't the most diplomatic of things to ask, given the circumstances. I moved hurriedly on, "I would check those noses of yours. Human child? I don't think so." I closed my eyes and prayed that they would smell enough demon on me to be fooled. Sure enough, the third one, who had up until now been silent, drew a deep croaking breath and let it out in a sharp gasp,

"I- smell- demon." It panted, and the others looked at me, eyes wide with shock.

"Yeah...so, if you don't mind, I'll just be on my way-" I moved towards the edge of the circle, but the second demon snarled at me, and I stepped carefully back,

"Demon-human-what _are_ you...?" The third asked and the first one growled,

"I have heard of them- _Mergers!_" It spat and I winced. From the sound of things, I wasn't going to be skipping happily into the sunset with these guys any time soon. From the second one's mouth, dripping with venom (literally) came the slow steady chant,

"Merger, Merger, Merger!"

"Can-we-kill-it?" The third asked breathlessly and I watched as the first one gave a slow and measured nod. Double shoot.

They leapt, but I spun away, and threw up a barrier of glass. But one strike from the second was enough for my defence to disintegrate into sand. I jumped into the air, but one grabbed my ankle and pulled me back into the middle, throwing me onto my back. I shot glass at them but that too just drifted harmlessly as sand into nothing. This had never happened before. Worrying. I tried again, pushing myself onto my feet, but after a couple of times I had realised that it was hopeless, and the three demons were crowing with unkind laughter. I swore, tried one last time, then a swipe with some kind of knife protruding from the first's elbow floored me.

"Don't think your little Merger tricks are going to work on us!" The first mocked me, and stalked around me in an ever-tightening lock with the other two. The second leered into my face and I tried feebly to punch him,

"Your demon half is _home_! It declared delightedly, "Don't you think it's going to try to get out?"

And then it hit me. An idea, not a demon. Our existences, us Mergers, are fragile at most. At the best of times we're a whirling mess of chakras that fight for dominance, and through years of training we can hope to contain them into one form in the human world. But here it was a different story, and of course the demon part was going to be more at ease, more destructive, more overpowering, than I had ever experienced.

"There was just that one boy." The second muttered slowly, "Fooled us and then came out with perfect demon chakra. Stupid Merger."

My future brightened distinctly. I assumed they meant Liam, and that he had gained control of his gold demon chakra here just as he had controlled his metal human chakra in the other world. His Merger chakra is white gold, an alloy of gold and copper. He never lets me forget that his is something so cool.

Back to the fight, and I was dragging myself to my feet again,

"Thanks, demon." I said slowly, and the three looked surprised, "You just told me how to win."

I breathed deeply, and retreated into myself, quickly, as quickly as I could. Sure enough, I could feel the suppressed demon chakra straining inside of me, and I bit my lip, hoped I knew what I was doing, fairly certain that I didn't, and let it loose.

xxx

When I came to, they were all knocked out, and I was in a battle stance, my fists slightly bloody, a thin trail of sand leading from the three of them to me. Breathing heavily, I watched as it retracted to me and disappeared under my skin. Creepy. Remind me never to let my demon chakra control me to such an extent. It makes me thirsty.

I heard a polite cough and spun around to see a demon, made out of darkness and something almost shadowy but material, slink up into the ring I had created around me of half-dead demons.

"That was some show." It said, and I tensed, ready for battle once more. It shook its head, laughing a little demon laugh, which sounded a little like a steam train's chugging, "I'm not an enemy. You're a Merger, yes? I've been working with your comrade, Liam."

I faltered, dropping my guard, then tightening it again. The demon just laughed once more and motioned with its head (it didn't have arms) to our left,

"What? What's there?" I asked suspiciously.

"The headquarters of our operation. We've been wanting to meet you ever since you escaped, Youko."

"Hey! How do you know my name?" I cried, but it merely turned around and headed off in the direction it had indicated. Hesitating, I looked between its departing back and the pile of now semi-conscious enemies, then ran to catch up.

His name was Ara, it turned out, and he'd been sent on a recon of the Centre before, which was why he knew who I was. Breathing a deep sigh of relief, I followed him into a small cave in the side of one of the ash hills that then opened up into quite a well-lit room, with a few demons seated in conversation at the other end. They looked up at our arrival, and then jumped up. Ara put his hand up and barked an explanation military-style, at which point their panic turned to wonder, as they sized me up,

"Liam was most praising of you." One elderly demon said kindly, and I smiled,

"I'll ask him about that. It doesn't seem like him." I said in reply, and turned to the room in general,

"Yes, I'm Youko. Um, hello." I was greeted with such a warm welcome that I really hadn't expected, especially after my experiences of councils at the Sand village. But they sat me down and crowded round, listening in interest as Ara described my battle to them.

"Hey, why didn't you help?" I turned on him, but he merely shrugged, a strange thing to watch when the shoulders in question are made out of a peculiar dark substance that seemed to mix itself with the shadows on the walls and then settle back down into an almost-humanoid shape again.

"I didn't know you were a Merger to begin with, you were too far away. And then when you used your demon strength, I didn't feel the need to help."

I nodded slowly in acceptance and then sighed,

"I guess I'd better ask how the resistance is going, then."

There was silence, and then the guy who appeared to be the leader stepped forward uncertainly,

"We have a plan."

Something in his voice made me instantly suspicious, and I narrowed my eyes at him,

"Do tell."

he hesitated, and his deputy stepped in,

"The thing is... we have observed your movements within the Village Hidden in the Sand, and have calculated the probability of your humans attacking the Centre first very high. So..."

"They're waiting until you start, so we can join with minimal damage." Ara finished for them, and they looked away. I turned this information over in my mind for a minute.

"You're basically waiting for us to take on the most dangerous, and then just step in to finish it off." I stated, and they winced. Tactically, it made a lot of sense, but morally... I would prefer that they didn't sneak into a battle midway through and then claim half of the rewards. I stood up, and strode a little way off, then turned to face the group,

"I guess you guys have different morals anyway." I shrugged, "It's good to know we have _some _kind of back-up." They breathed a sigh of relief, then one jumped up,

"Wait, where you're walking-"

I felt the familiar coolness of an evening in Suna, and sniffed the fragrant scent of a thousand jasmine plants that entwined their way around the walls and houses of the city,

"You're falling into a hole between the worlds!" I heard one cry, as if from a long way away.

"Hey, I just keep doing that!" I grumbled, feeling myself spinning dreamily.

"It's because of your existence. It puts a strain on the fabric of these dimensional barriers. Most people can't slip through the cracks that you do." Then I felt their presence vanish altogether.

"Good for me..."

The unfortunate thing about drifting between dimensions is that you always have to come out. And when you're drifting through one that doesn't really exist, except for you, really, there's no telling whether it's going to be a lovely little one that sets you down all nicely on the other side.

And I discovered, flying through the air fifty feet above Suna, that this wasn't one of those nice portals between dimensions. I discovered that as fashionable as jumpsuits are, they don't make very good parachutes. And I discovered that, after thinking you're about to crash into your painful and high-speed gravity-induced doom, there's something incredibly lovely about crashing into someone's arms.

Especially if that someone happens to be Gaara.


	15. Chapter 15

Staring up into Gaara's aquamarine eyes, it wasn't just the fall that had left me feeling winded. At the entrance to the village, surrounded by those tall forbidding walls, long shadows carved strange highlights into his features. He looked searchingly at my face as he set me slowly down, steadying me and then stroking my cheek. An electric thrill ran through me, followed by a sharp jolt of pain, that made my eyes almost water. It seemed that those annoying demons had left me a souvenir. Then Gaara's eyes locked on mine again and I attempted a smile.

"I told you." He murmured, fingers ghosting over my chin.

"Whu-?" Half words were the only thing I could manage. He hand tightened around my shoulder,

"I told you to come back safe. What is _this?_" I winced as his cool fingers slid across the graze again, "And _why, _on the subject of you arriving home, did you do so in such a fashion?"

"I know, jumpsuits are totally 'In' this season, right?" A muscle in his jaw twitched and I grinned, following his gaze as he looked up into the sky, "Oh, _that!_ Cross-dimensional travel and all. Don't you worry your pretty little head about such concepts." I patted him on the cheek and turned, to find three pairs of very black eyes staring balefully at me.

"Are we interrupting?" One of the boys asked. I spun back around quickly to face Gaara, blinked, and looked over my shoulder. The three boys were still there, their heads tilted expectantly, black hair falling into black eyes.

"Why are _they _here?" I hissed. Gaara stepped back, and I could see the billowing clouds of sand that he was beginning to churn up around him.

"We were about to fight."

I was about to say something witty in return, then realised something and I smacked the palm of my hand on my forehead,

"Mickey! I knew there was something I was missing! But I kind of got sidetracked, falling into another world, fighting species-ist demons, falling (and really falling, I mean) back again and all. You know how it is."

Gaara paused, and looked at me, an adorable uncomprehending panic in his eyes,

"No. No, I don't." I grinned at him, then rounded on our spectators,

"Right. Boys, boys, boys. To what do I owe this pleasure? It's been a while." They looked at me non-committally, "What? Not even a 'hello'? Harsh, guys, harsh!"

"You know them?" Gaara asked resignedly. I think he had figured even by then that anything strange or out of the ordinary occurring in his life probably had something to do with me.

"They're Mergers."

"Of course."

I smiled to Gaara, and then scratched my head,

"I guess Mickey made it back and spilled the beans, then?"

One of the three boys stepped forward. His black eyes met mine unflinchingly,

"We came to annihilate this village."

I looked at them in mock surprise,

"But that's not very nice!" I looked behind to Gaara, "It's a shame you couldn't meet these guys on a good day. Come to think of it, I've never met them on a good day either." I narrowed my eyes at the other Mergers again, "I wish you could just be a little less morbid, just some of the time. Make your lives a lot easier, trust me."

"We don't." One of the boys said coldly, and I snorted.

Just then, Kankuro thudded into view, slightly panting after a long run down from the main office. I had wondered where he was.

"Gaara! I heard from one of the villagers! They said you were fighti- oh, hi, Youko!" He skidded to a halt, and flipped out the mannequin on his back. For a moment, I was taken by the wonderment of the life size weapon as its limbs thudded down beside it and Kankuro pulled it upwards, like a true master of his trade. He winked to me, and nodded to the three boys, "What's the low down?"

"These three are fourteen, or two. Cain, Alejandro and Titus. They're triplets."

"I wouldn't have guessed." Kankuro muttered, as three matching faces turned interestedly towards him.

"They each have a different elemental attribute. Do you three want to do this whole introduction thing, by any chance?" I was met with silence, "Thought not. Alejandro is on the left there. He's got air chakra. Titus is on the right, earth chakra. And this is Cain in the middle, water chakra."

"Why are their eyes so black?" Kankuro asked slowly, drawing chakra strings out of his palms to attach them to his fighting doll, and I could see his brother likewise preparing himself for battle. Maybe I should have been doing that too... But talking is so much more fun than fighting, I always say (whatever Liam says about me).

"These guys... are one of Kazuhiko's little _experiments_." I spat the word, and Gaara looked at me, startled. I inhaled, then looked him straight in the eye, "So was I. I mean, technically we all were, but some more than others."

"Your talk... becomes boring." Cain's voice scratched my ears like a knife sharpening another knife. Dangerously. Without so much as a nod or movement that could be some kind of sign, the three leapt, perfectly in sync, into the fight.

Gaara threw up a sand shield and behind it, I began to rub my hands together. Kankuro brought his doll into some kind of mechanical life, spinning in perfect harmony as he deflected blows.

"What are you doing, Youko?" Gaara asked, the slight strain of keeping the shield up against the barrage of blows perceptible in his voice.

"Making fire." I said shortly, and opened my palms to show the newly ignited chakra pathways on my skin. Gaara stared at me, clearly surprised. "It's something I've been thinking about-since I was in the demon world- I let my sand chakra get the better of me." His eyes darkened. I knew he knew just what it was like for that to happen." So my theory is- if I could let demon chakra take control there- I should be able to- let human chakra take control _here_." The small flame that I had been kindling leapt, searing my skin but not in a painful way, and I nodded to Gaara, "Let down your barrier."

"Why is the fire so important?" He demanded, still holding the barrier in front of me.

""Air, water, earth- What's missing?" I smiled to him, then leapt. He dropped his sand at just the right moment, and suddenly I had three teenage boys heading my way, bent on destruction.

Kankuro's doll dotted in and out between them, in well-deflected attempts to break their formation. The triplets had had these tactics down for at least a year. Titus stood on the floor, and already I could see earthy tendrils sneaking out from beneath his trousers and embedding themselves in the ground. On his shoulders stood Alejandro, poised in a perfect pirouette, knives ready. And in front of them, behind them, between them, moving at an ever-increasing speed, was Cain.

"Aim for Cain!" I shouted to Kankuro as I dodged the knives sent flying by Alejandro.

"Which one is he?" He asked and I groaned,

"The one _attacking _us, idiot!"

The triplets are a perfect formation of attack and defence. Cain attacks, while the two others fend off attacks from his back. They move in seamless synchronism. They are impossible to defeat. Unless you're me, of course, that is.

Kankuro's doll moved in for an attack, and I risked a glance behind me to Gaara. He was on the floor, hand on the ground, drawing some kind of symbols in the sand. I didn't know what it was, but I had a fairly good idea that he was probably targeting Titus. Clever guy. I guess you don't get to be Kazekage for nothing.

Because this whole formation relies on Titus' hold on the earth around him; a normally impossible obstacle. But when you're fighting the sand-wielding Kazekage in his village surrounded by desert, the balance starts to tip.

I somersaulted, and landed ten feet away from Cain. Fire coursing across me body, I watched his movements, the fluidity of water that spoke through his limbs, the graceful ripple of muscles as he wove between his brothers. Then I leapt.

I met him in mid-air, grabbing his wrists and throwing him over my shoulder. He landed with a thump, on his back.

"Cover me!" I screamed, as Alejandro's knives thudded into the earth around me. With the clanking sounds of Kankuro's doll in action to comfort me, I slapped away Cain's punch, and cursed as he swept my feet out from under me. I kicked up, catching him in the stomach, but he just flowed over me and smashed my head further into the dirt with a fist. I caught hold of the back of his shirt, twisting it to stop it from ripping, then pushed my feet up, moving vertically up into the air and back towards Cain. Spinning, I placed a foot into his back and floored him again. Holding him down with my full force, I gathered the fire still in my palms, and shoved it ruthlessly down his throat.

For a second, nothing happened, and he struggled violently under my grasp, but I held firm. Then, he began to cough, retching and pitching out of my grip. He threw me off of him, and tried to crawl a few feet away. Then I heard sound, a little like water steaming out of a cooking pot, and he collapsed. I looked around me for the first time, and saw that the fight was wrapping up elsewhere too. Kankuro's doll had captured Alejandro, he of the air, who should never have been confined, and increasingly weak sounds of a struggle could be be heard from within. And Gaara, the surprisingly clever Gaara, who had hung back from the fray to meditate with his hand on the earth, was now standing, sand flying everywhere, Titus held in an iron grip on sand, feet kicking, feet _not_ touching the ground, helpless. Then I threw up. I guess chakra really does hurt to use up. I wish my body came with a warning light for when I'm about to overload. Not that I would pay any attention to it, anyway.

xxx

The biggest surprise for me that afternoon wasn't Gaara rushing over to me, and it wasn't the way he picked me up incredibly gently. It wasn't the way his eyes looked at me when he thought that I was already unconscious. It wasn't anything to do with Gaara. Really, that should be the biggest surprise of them all.

The triplets, complete with guards, came to my bedroom as soon as word had gotten out that I was awake again, in handcuffs and looking a lot smaller and thinner than they had ever seemed before. I regarded them thoughtfully, just as Gaara followed them into the room.

"Youko-"

"Why are they here? What's going on?" He held up a hand and I fell silent again,

"We need your advice." I looked, confused, from him to the triplets, and that was when I practically fell out of my bed and almost embarrassed myself a scarily large amount in front of the always-so-cool Kazekage (Me in threadbare hand-me-down-from-his-sister pyjamas isn't exactly the sight I want to give him right now). The triplets all looked up at me, in perfect timing, as always, and I was startled to see honey coloured eyes peering out of their fringes.

"Wha- what..." My voice trailed off, and I reached over to a dressing gown, pulling it over my arms and jumping out of bed. That was a bad idea. I swayed, but shook my head at the guards who made moves to steady me. If it isn't going to be from Gaara, Youko The Almighty doesn't really like accepting help. I walked shakily over to the triplets and pulled Cain's chin up with a faltering hand,

"What's happened to you?" I murmured. He looked down, and swallowed.

"I don't know. Maybe we each met our match." The other two nodded, "We think... well, as best as we can guess, we think that it neutralised some of the demon in us."

I bit my lip. There was something in his voice, in his eyes, that made me feel very, very sorry for him,

"Are you still Cain? And you, "I turned to Alejandro and Titus, "Are you two the same?"

"Youko." Gaara's deep voice turned me round, and I shook my head,

"I don't know what it is. Something's different."

"That's what I thought." He nodded, "What did he mean 'neutralised'?"

I sighed,

"Remember, I told you that Kazuhiko liked to... experiment with us... Well, two years ago, he got this big idea. He wanted to see if he could-" Here I faltered for a moment, glancing at the triplets, who just stared non-committally at me, as always, "If he could combine three demons with- with one human. Make something even stronger." I looked at the triplets, my eyes soft, "It didn't work. Somehow the human child split, and because the human chakra had split too, the demon chakras took over. They were barely even Mergers."

"'Were'?" Gaara repeated questioningly, and I frowned,

"Yeah, 'were'. There's something new, a new feeling about these three."

"It was the fight." Cain said slowly, uncertainly, and I noticed that his voice had become higher, less other-worldly, "I dunno- we don't know really what happened, but we think that being, um, _beaten up_ to that extent," I smiled apologetically, "It knocked something back into place inside of us. I think we're better, now."

I sat down on the edge of my bed, and breathed in deeply,

"Gaara. I think they're going to be ok. I think- I think they're safe, now."

Gaara frowned, then slowly shook his head,

"I apologise. You... you cannot be allowed to leave freely."

The triplets nodded, as if they had been expecting it, but I jumped up unsteadily and ran across to the Kazekage,

"But they're ok now! Look at them! Anyone could see that! Can't you let them stay here, like me?"

"They're not like you." He replied shortly, "You haven't tried to kill anyone. _Yet._"

I was taken aback by the sting, but one look into Gaara's eyes told me that it was a tiny little joke, just between the two of us, his attempt to lighten my mood. I appreciated it.

I turned to the triplets, but before I could speak, Cain stepped forward again,

"He's right. It's true. We have been dangerous. We have done... awful things. Let us repent. They can do what they will." I looked at Cain once more, and then gave a little smile to him,

"You better not revert though, you hear me? We need to start again, once they let you go."

He smiled back, and the other two followed suit. With a nod from Gaara, they were led out, gently but still in chains, and we were left alone.

"Where are your brother and sister?" I asked once the clinking of metal against metal had disappeared. Gaara shrugged,

"Kankuro is at the hospital, with _minor_ injuries," He added when I gasped, "And Temari is liaising with the villagers. How are you?" The question came a little as a surprise to me, and I looked up to face him,

"What do you mean?"

He looked at me almost tenderly and nodded at the door,

"They... must be like family to you. Whatever they used to be. Also Mickey. We keep taking people away from you."

I swallowed, hard, and closed my eyes,

"I... I can't say that I'm entirely happy with it, but I know that that's how it should be. I hope that the triplets can be rehabilitated."

I felt him sit down next to me, on the bed, very close, closer than a Kazekage should sit. I opened my eyes again, just as I was engulfed in a strong hug.

"Don't say anything. Please." He commanded quietly, and I sat numbly with his arms around my shoulders, hardly daring to breathe.

It's incredibly unfair that someone has this much power over me. It's even more unfair that that someone is just the type of person to, once he realises, exploit me completely.

He pulled back only a little way, so could look him straight in the eyes, and soon it was only his strong arms holding me up. Then, without warning, even so much as a word, he stood up,

"You must rest. 'Cross-dimensional travel and all that'. I will stop getting in your way."

Before I could offer a word of complaint or denial, he had swept out of the room, and I was left, alone and vaguely pissed off, with only the slight iron scent of him still lingering in the air.

**School really is not the best friend of the aspiring author. Really, I'm so sorry about how late this was! And also sorry for how late they're all going to be from now on, probably. Just to warn you. Now, I really would love some reviews, especially for this chapter. A lot seemed to happen. What do you all think of it? CANARYwolf Xx**


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